Former independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) yesterday filed suit against Taiwan High Court Prose-cutors' Office's Senior Prosecutor Shen Ming-lun (沈明倫) for violating his personal freedom.
Shen initiated and signed the warrant that led to Lo's arrest on Friday. He is also the leader of a team of six prosecutors from the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office and the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office who are investigating a number of allegations against Lo.
The Taipei District Court released Lo on Sunday, saying that his arrest was improper as the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office "usually only deals with urgent cases involving national security."
Lo labeled his arrest as "illegal."
"Everybody knows Shen's style, which is to arrest the man first." said Lo. "Only after the man he wants is arrested, will he begin to look for evidence to bring charges against him. It's totally illegal and breaches human rights."
Lo also alleged that Shen had threatened him during his detention, and repeated that he had told the prosecutors he would "take responsibility for what I have done," but that they should "not make up stories and force me to admit to them or tell me that my family members will be investigated as well if I don't tell the truth.
"A prosecutor even said that I was Taiwan's Osama bin Laden during the interview. Well, should I take that as an insult or a compliment?" he said.
Shen refused to comment on Lo's suit, except to say that he would continue with his work "and do what I'm supposed to do."
Prosecutor Chen Jui-jen (陳瑞仁) of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office said that the only person who was threatening during the interview was Lo himself.
"He once visited Shen's father in Keelung and asked him to tell Shen to not be so tough," Chen said.
"Apart from that, he also told Shen that he will ask his children to avenge him if he is treated unfairly. Everything was recorded by the courtroom's closed circuit television camera during the interview. It is very easy to establish who is telling the truth," Chen said.
In response to Chen's accusation, Lo said that there seemed to have been a misunderstanding.
"Come on," he said. "Think about it. Would I be so stupid as to threaten prosecutors while I was in custody? Is that logical? Is that possible? I did tell him that I would tell my children to remember this. I meant, however, that I would tell my kids to remember that I have been treated unfairly. That's all."
Shen's father, Shen Wen-chih (
"He did visit me some time last year," he said, "but we were just talking about his campaign for the legislative election because I was one of his vote captains."
Lo later decided not to run for re-election and went to Hong Kong on Oct. 23, only hours before an eight-member committee at Taipei City Police Headquarters decided unanimously to place him on the national register of hoodlums.
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