Lu ready to attend court to confront suit witnesses

Lawyers for Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday she is willing to attend court hearings and confront defense witnesses in her civil suit against The Journalist magazine (新新聞).

Before ruling on the the magazine's request to allow testimony from secret witnesses, Taipei District Court Judge Lai Yung-hua (賴泱樺) heard arguments from both parties at a pre-hearing conference yesterday.

The Journalist continued to insist on a court order to prevent three witnesses -- who it says were crucial sources for the article at the center of the suit -- from being identified.

According to The Journalist, the three witnesses will prove that the magazine had carried out thorough investigations before publishing the contentious article, which accused Lu of spreading the rumor that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was having an extramarital affair with his translator in an attempt to oust him as president.

Lawyers for Lu, however, argued that the request would interfere with the vice president's right to a fair trial and should not be granted.

Lu's lawyers said she is willing to attend court in person to confront the alleged sources.

Yu Ying-fu (尤英夫), an attorney for Lu, said that they suspected the The Journalist made up the existence of the sources to evade any liability arising from the article.

Yu said the vice president had indicated her willingness to be cross-examined along with the alleged sources.

But any such cross-examination must be conducted in public in accordance with normal procedure, Yu said.

Wang Chien-chuang (王建壯), president of The Journalist, said that the magazine would welcome the vice president's attendance but reiterated its position that the sources must not be identified.

"It's not a question of a public or secret hearing, but that The Journalist is ethically obliged to protect its news sources," Wang said.

"If the attendance of the vice president has to be made at the cost of disclosure of our news sources, I think that shows the vice president's knowledge on journalistic practices is very limited."

Judge Lai said after the conference that the impact his eventual decision would be such that he would have to contemplate it thoroughly.

The judge said he would rule on the matter on Monday.