Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) entered the ongoing fray between prosecutors and former lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), saying more prosecutors have received threats over Lo's case than the public has been made aware of.
Chen told reporters yesterday that prosecutors from the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office received threats after an eight-member team decided to put Lo on the national hoodlum list in October last year.
Chen did not elaborate on the threats, but said that he did ask the National Police Administration to increase security for prosecutors.
Shen Ming-lun (沈明倫), a senior prosecutor from the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office, told reporters earlier this week that Lo had threatened him while he was in custody. According to Shen, Lo threatened to "ask his children and grandchildren to take revenge" if Shen acted too tough on his case.
Lo admitted having said something along that line, but denied that it was meant to be a threat.
Shen initiated and signed a warrant that led to Lo's arrest last Friday. Shen was also the leader of a team of prosecutors investigating Lo's suspected role in a number of criminal cases.
Lo filed a lawsuit against Shen on Monday, charging the prosecutor violated his personal freedom.
Lo was released by the Taipei District Court on Sunday on the grounds that the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office "usually only deals with urgent cases involving national security." In the ruling, the judges said that his case should have been handled by Taipei district prosecutors, not by the high court prosecutors' office.
But Chen questioned the court's decision yesterday, saying there was nothing illegal or improper about high court prosecutors issuing an arrest warrant, even though the move might be unusual.
Lo's six-year career as a lawmaker, which provided him immunity from arrest, ended on Jan. 31.
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