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Blogger fearful of upcoming verdict
BITING SATIRE:
Although the politician Tseng Yen-wei parodied on his Web site was eventually elected commissioner, he still sued Tseng for spreading rumors
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007, Page 4
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"Of course he [Chou] knows that I don't have NT$50 million, so he's asking for the amount with the intention of putting me in debt for my entire life."
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Tseng Yen-wei, blogger
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Tseng Yen-wei (曾彥衛), a blogger sued on multiple charges by Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), voiced his worries yesterday about the verdict that will be handed down next Monday.
During the campaign for the Taipei County commissioner election in 2005, Tseng, a university student at the time, created a blog satirizing Chou, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate.
Now 24 years old, Tseng is a graduate student at National Taiwan Normal University.
Although Chou was elected, he filed a lawsuit against Tseng for "spreading rumors or untrue statements" with the "intention of preventing a candidate's election," and copyright violation.
CHARGES
The first two charges were based on an entry on Tseng's blog about a loan dispute between a bank and Yung-chou Corporation.
Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), who was Chou's rival for the post of Taipei County Commissioner at the time, went public with allegations that Chou was illegally involved in the case.
IMITATION
The copyright violation action was based on Chou's claim that the name of Tseng's Web site, "Wiego's blog," imitated Chou's official campaign Web site "Weigo's blog."
Earlier this month in court, Chou requested NT$50 million (US$1.5 million) in compensation in addition to criminal charges, and asked Tseng to run apology ads in three Chinese-language newspapers for three consecutive days, Tseng said.
"I don't understand why a politician -- and commissioner of the biggest county in Taiwan -- would do something like this to a student," Tseng said at the press conference.
"Of course he [Chou] knows that I don't have NT$50 million, so he's asking for the amount with the intention of putting me in debt for my entire life," Tseng said.
Lo, as well as bloggers in support of Tseng, accompanied him at the press conference.
"Tseng only quoted me on his blog in the entry on the Yung-chou case," Lo said. "Chou should have sued me, not Tseng."
Tseng said that both he and his family are suffering as a result of the lawsuit.
"If I'm declared guilty next Monday, no one would ever dare criticize politicians on the Internet again."
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