Judges will reconsider whether they should grant a prosecutors' request to detain accused gas bomber Kao Pao-chung (
"The re-hearing will be held at 9am on Dec. 30. Kao will be summoned as well," said Huang Jiunn-ming (
PHOTO: LIU SHIN-DER, TAIPEI TIMESN
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (
"Kao was banned from traveling outside the country and his whereabouts have been under police control ever since he was released on bail," Huang said.
The Taipei District Court was asked to hear the prosecutors' request to detain Kao on Tuesday night after the high court granted a prosecutors' appeal of the district court's bail order on Dec. 18.
"We decided to grant the prosecutors' appeal and ask the district court to reconsider the detention request because Kao's behavior had jeopardized public safety and he did destroy pieces of crucial evidence of the case, such as the hat, clothes and surgical mask that he wore during the crime," said Wen Yau-yuan (
Although the high court and district court have decided to reconsider the prosecutors' detention request, Democratic Progressive Party Lawmakers Lin Chung-mo (
Lin, Tsai and Hou had a closed-door meeting with Fan, while Lin, before he went into the meeting, again told reporters that he was very disappointed over the district court's decision to release Kao on bail.
"From Hsueh Chiu (
Kao, the 46-year-old unemployed defendant, was identified and arrested on Dec. 17 and is accused of being involved in a gas explosion that was set off in a minivan at an outdoor parking lot next to Taipei Railway Station on Dec. 9.
The minivan had been loaded with 11 20kg gas tanks and exploded around noon on Dec. 9. The explosion did not injure anyone, but it destroyed two vehicles parked next to it.
Video footage of Kao was captured on a local security surveillance system and he was soon identified by police through a fingerprint match. He immediately admitted to the crime after being arrested at his Taichung residence on Dec. 17.
The case involving Hsueh, a notorious kidnapper, also sparked disputes between prosecutors and judges. He was arrested by Miaoli police on March 21, 2000, but Miaoli District Court released him on NT$200,000 bail on the same day.
On behalf of the country's prosecutors, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
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