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DPP's Luo sued by opponent for `libelous' blog

"Chou's accusations only exposed his ignorance of blogs and youth culture."

Luo Wen-chia, the DPP candidate for Taipei County Commissioner

Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) candidate in the key Taipei County commissioner race, yesterday filed defamation and public humiliation lawsuits against the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), for allegedly posting libelous information about him on an Internet Web site linked to Luo's campaign site.

"The Internet information is not only defamatory to my personal image but may also violate the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法)," Chou said. "We suspect it is not a single act but a systematic, well-planned smearing funded by a group."

Chou called on young people not to be misled by Luo, who he said may try to shift the blame and responsibility to them if things go wrong.

Chou also requested that Luo close down his campaign Web site and asked prosecutors to step in to conduct a search of computers at Luo's campaign office.

Lee Shiung-chen (李向臣), captain of the Ninth Investigation Division of the National Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau, said that the bureau had identified some suspects but needed more time to conduct more cross-examinations.

Lee said that it is up to prosecutors and judges to decide whether suspects were guilty, and that law enforcement officials do not have the right to shut down the Web site.

In response, Luo yesterday repeated that the blog has nothing to do with his campaign, and criticized Chou for being ignorant about the blog culture that is now especially popular among young people.

"Chou's accusations only exposed his ignorance of blogs and youth culture," Luo said. "I can only describe Chou's reaction using `five noes.' He has no idea about the law, blogs, young people, or world trends -- and he has no sense of humor."

"As far as I know, a blog is usually written by the type of young person who just doesn't fit Chou's political profile," Luo said. "They use their imagination and creativity to voice their thoughts."

Because of Chou's complaints, the blog at www.wretch.cc/blog/wiego has gotten about 330,000 hits per day, Luo added.
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