Lu gives up her chance to appeal libel decision

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said that she will not appeal a libel ruling against The Journalist magazine.

According to a statement issued by the vice president's office last night, Lu believes that the second verdict by the Taiwan High Court had clarified the fact that Lu did not spread a rumor that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was having an affair with one of his female aides.

The release said that Lu was not 100 percent satisfied with the decision by the court that changed her original request to ask the magazine to publish a clarification with an apology in Taiwan's 32 major newspapers and radio and TV stations. The second verdict required the convicted Journalist employees to print apologies in only four newspapers.

"Though the decision was not satisfactory, my name shall be cleared by the publication in the four newspapers anyway. As a result, I decided not to appeal," Lu said.

The Taiwan High Court upheld the verdict of a lower court that The Journalist magazine did not libel Lu when it reported that she had called its editor-in-chief to spread a rumor of an affair involving Chen on Dec. 13, 2001. But it ordered the publication and five of its personnel to bear the costs of publishing a correction.

The magazine said that it would appeal anyway.