Restoring Lo Ming-Tsun's Innocence | Autumn-Winter 2021 Action, Part I: Returning to Where the Story Began

"Whenever I wake in the middle of the night, I do not wonder which senior police post I might hold today if my career had gone smoothly. I think instead about how I always followed the rules and obeyed the law, yet somehow ended up here."

- Lo Ming-Tsun

In 1997, Lo Ming-Tsun was head of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Xinzhuang Precinct of the Taipei County Police Department and was regarded as a rising figure in the police force. A bribery prosecution arising from a shooting changed his life. The courts found that he had accepted NT$500,000 from organized-crime figures to shield the actual shooter and arrange for a juvenile to take the blame. But the case contains serious problems: no physical evidence, witnesses allegedly induced, threatened, or offered benefits during Investigation Bureau questioning, flawed identification procedures, and reliance on a disputed polygraph report. Lo also presented a concrete alibi for the time the court found that he had met the bribe-giver: both a police meeting attendance record and a firearm-issuance record. The fact-finding court nevertheless reasoned that he could have slipped away from the official meeting.

Because the alibi was strong, the Taiwan High Court acquitted Lo in the first remand proceedings. The prosecutor then appealed after the statutory ten-day deadline, which should have made the acquittal final. The Supreme Court failed to notice the untimely appeal and mistakenly remanded the case again. On the second remand, Lo was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment, and the conviction became final. The JRF pro bono legal team later sought retrial and extraordinary appeal; in 2018, the Prosecutor-General also filed an extraordinary appeal on Lo's behalf. All were rejected. The legal team plans to petition the Prosecutor-General once more to seek an extraordinary appeal and restore Lo Ming-Tsun's innocence.

Now 67, Lo Ming-Tsun remains in prison waiting for the day his conviction can be overturned.

Before 2021 ends, we are launching a series of autumn and winter actions to accompany Lo on the road toward exoneration.

 

Autumn-Winter 2021 Action, Part I: Returning to Where the Story Began

#ReturnToXinzhuangPrecinct #FindLoMingTsunsLostInnocence #YellowRibbonsForLoMingTsun

On October 27, we will return to where the story began and hold a solidarity action outside Xinzhuang Precinct. At the entrance of the station where Lo once devoted his youth and energy, we will set up a wishing tree and tie yellow ribbons symbolizing homecoming and longing, offering our hopes for his path to exoneration.

The yellow ribbons symbolize more than affection and moral support. Before they are tied to the tree, they will also be used to bind small case-information pouches, linking our good wishes with an understanding of what happened. Each pouch contains an introduction to the Lo Ming-Tsun case, a postcard, and a mock lost-property report-because we are coming to the police station to say that something has been lost: Lo Ming-Tsun's innocence.

#WalkingTowardExoneration #LegalTeamToSeekExtraordinaryAppealAgain

The legal team plans to file another petition with the Supreme Prosecutors Office in November, asking Prosecutor-General Chiang Hui-Min-who previously sought an extraordinary appeal for Lo-to knock once again on the Supreme Court's door. After the action at Xinzhuang Precinct, participants will travel to Ximen MRT Station and walk past the Supreme Prosecutors Office, symbolically moving from the place where the story began toward a path that could restore Lo's innocence.

Lo was involved in two criminal cases. After the first case-the final conviction the legal team is now trying to overturn through extraordinary appeal-became final, he left Taiwan and continued protesting his innocence from abroad. Proceedings in the second case, in which he also pleads not guilty and which remains pending before the Taiwan High Court, were suspended until he returned to Taiwan and began serving his sentence last year. That second case is scheduled for a hearing at 3:00 p.m. on October 27. After passing the Supreme Prosecutors Office, participants will therefore continue to the High Court, where they can observe the hearing and bear witness to Lo Ming-Tsun as he is today.

#RestoreLoMingTsunsInnocence

More actions will follow. Whether or not you can join Part I, we invite you to continue following the Lo Ming-Tsun case.

Online Registration

Time

October 27, 2021 - gather at 13:00; action begins at 13:30

Location

Meet outside Xinzhuang Precinct (No. 150, Zhongzheng Rd., Xinzhuang Dist., New Taipei City)

Schedule

13:00-13:30 - Gathering
13:30-14:00 - Tie yellow ribbons to the wishing tree outside Xinzhuang Precinct and deliver Lo Ming-Tsun case-information pouches to the precinct
14:00-14:40 - Take the MRT to Ximen Station and walk past the Supreme Prosecutors Office
15:00-16:00 - Observe the hearing at the Taiwan High Court