The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office took away one of the main organizers of a Kaohsiung legislatorial recall campaign for questioning after carrying out a search on the recall campaign's headquarters and the residences of its organizers today.
The recall campaign targets Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislators Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) and Huang Jie (黃捷), referring to itself as a “double strike” campaign against the DPP.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Police questioned and took away Chu Lei (朱磊), who is leading the campaign against Hsu Chih-chieh, and confiscated several computers.
The residences of Chu and another campaign leader, surnamed Huang (黃), were also searched.
Speaking to assembled media, Chu said that he “was not surprised” by the investigators and that this investigation “demonstrates the importance” of the recall campaign.
Chu compared the search to authoritarianism, saying that in the past he would have had to answer to Taiwan Garrison Command, whereas now it is to the Investigation Bureau and in the future it would be martial law courts.
Chu said details about the case were not entirely clear to him and that he would not comment further, although he said the search was not related to the second stage of his recall campaign and called on people to continue supporting their efforts.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office declined to comment.
Hsu Shang-hsien (徐尚賢), the “double strike” campaign leader, called today’s search an example of “blatant political interference.”
The Kaohsiung Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chapter said it was not involved with the campaign, although it called for a fair judicial process and asked for investigators to act impartially.
Legislative Speaker and former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), a member of the KMT, said in a Facebook post today that the public expects the judiciary to uphold democracy and rule of law, calling on prosecutors and police to defend their independence.
Han expressed his hopes that the judicial process would never serve any political party and that those involved would uphold Taiwan’s hard-won freedoms.
Additional reporting by Ko Yu-hao
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS