Court detains KMT official in recall petition forgery case

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Friday granted a motion to detain the main opposition party Kuomintang's (KMT) Taipei chapter chair Huang Lu Chin‑ju (黃呂錦茹), citing new evidence regarding her alleged involvement in forged signatures on petitions to recall ruling party lawmakers.

In a statement explaining its ruling, the district court said the new evidence submitted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office was enough to establish Huang Lu as a suspect in alleged forgery and illegal use of personal data.

The court, which had denied prosecutors' motion to detain Huang Lu on April 18, heard the arguments again on Friday after the Taiwan High Court ordered it to reconsider its ruling the day before.

According to the High Court, the evidence, including witness statements and chat app history presented by the prosecutors, showed Huang Lu's involvement in the alleged offences, to a certain degree.

The High Court stated that Huang Lu's suspected involvement remained to be determined, but the district court decide that the new evidence provided sufficient grounds for her detention for two months.

She will be held incommunicado to prevent her from obstructing the investigation and colluding with others, the district court said.

Huang Lu and three other party staffers were summoned by prosecutors on April 17 for questioning over allegations that petitions to initiate an election to recall the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) lawmakers contained fake signatures. The KMT's Taipei chapter office was also raided by prosecutors that day.

The district court, however, only granted prosecutors' motion to detain two KMT staffers on April 18, but released Huang Lu and another KMT staffer without bail after finding insufficient evidence to keep them in custody.

KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who led protests close to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for two evenings on April 17-18 until Huang Lu left the court on the morning of April 19, said on Friday that he will ask the lawyers to do whatever they can to help Huang Lu, and file an appeal.

Chu said prosecutors' appeal of the district court's initial decision shows they are determined to detain Huang Lu, and called that a "typical" manipulation of the judicial system by the DPP.

The DPP's targeting of opposition parties would not be able to hold back people's voice of anger, Chu said, urging everyone to take part in the KMT's planned protest on Saturday to "defend" Taiwan's democracy.

The DPP, on the other hand, questioned the legitimacy of the KMT's protest, which is scheduled to take place in front of the Presidential Office building in Taipei.

During a news conference in Taipei on Friday, DPP Spokesperson Justin Wu (吳崢) called the KMT's accusations of the judicial system a tactic to shift attention away from what the party is being investigated for -- the petitions submitted with forged signatures to initiate recall of DPP lawmakers.

Wu said the fact that the KMT can hold a large political gathering on Saturday proves that Taiwan is a free and democratic society.