Kaohsiung, April 20 (CNA) Hsu Shang-hsien (徐尚賢), the leader of a recall vote campaign organization targeting two ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers in Kaohsiung, has been formally detained in the southern Taiwanese city following questioning over alleged forgery and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act.
The Kaohsiung District Court on Saturday approved local prosecutors’ request to detain Hsu and hold him incommunicado for two months. The court cited concerns that he could tamper with evidence or collude with other individuals involved in the case.
According to court documents released on Sunday, Hsu admitted that many of the signatures on his organization’s recall petition documents were not provided by actual supporters, but were written by himself or campaign volunteers.
Although Hsu denied illegally collecting personal data or forging documents, the court said digital evidence on two confiscated phones and witness testimony pointed to “suspected serious illegality.”
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office alleged that Hsu deleted files and chat records related to the recall vote campaign and advised others, including a man named Chu Lei (朱磊) and a woman identified by her surname Huang (黃), on how to respond to judicial inquiries.
Huang was released without bail after being questioned on Friday and Chu was released on bail of NT$150,000 early Saturday, prosecutors said.
The court said the facts of the case remain unclear and that the risk of collusion with others who have not yet been questioned justified Hsu’s pre-trial detention.
Hsu ran the campaign organization “Double Strike Petition Headquarters” (雙罷劫連署總站) that coordinated signature collections for campaigns against DPP lawmakers Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) and Huang Jie (黃捷), both of whom represent electoral districts in Kaohsiung in Taiwan’s national legislature.
The case is one of several ongoing investigations into alleged illegality in recall vote campaigns targeting DPP lawmakers that have led opposition politicians to accuse the ruling party of using the judiciary to “persecute” its political opponents.
The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) protested outside the Taipei prosecutors’ office this week and is urging Taiwanese people to assemble in front of the Presidential Office on Saturday.
The DPP has rejected the allegation and accused the KMT of threatening Taiwan’s social stability and democracy.
Last week, separate investigations by prosecutors in Taipei and New Taipei resulted in raids and multiple arrests of activists associated with alleged signature forgeries and violations of data protection laws in recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers.
According to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, a public vote is triggered if campaigners collect signatures from 1 percent of district voters in the first round and 10 percent in the second.
