The Prosecutor of this Office, Lu Ya-chun, has completed the investigation into the forgery of recall proposal forms for a Chiayi City legislator, a case conducted under the direction of the Chiayi County Investigation Station of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the Chiayi County Police Bureau. A brief summary is as follows:

I. Investigation Results

1. Indictment: A total of 11 defendants, including Chang ○-ming, Li ○-yuan, Yan ○-shun, Tsai ○-fu, Chang ○-chung, Hsu ○-chun, Chung ○-chi, Wu ○-ting, Huang ○-wen, Liu ○-wei, and Liu ○-yin, are charged with uttering forged private documents under Articles 216 and 210 of the Criminal Code, and illegal use of personal data under Articles 41 and 20, Paragraph 1 of the Personal Data Protection Act.

2. Deferred Prosecution: Two defendants, Liu ○-mei and Hsu ○-hsin, are charged with the same offenses. They have been granted deferred prosecution for a period of one year and are required to pay NT$50,000 each to the national treasury.

II. Summary of Indicted Facts

1. The defendants hold various positions within the Kuomintang (KMT) Chiayi City Chapter: Chang ○-ming is the Chief Secretary; Li ○-yuan is the Vice Chairperson; others include division directors, branch heads, administrative staff, and volunteers. Chen ○-chuan (subject to a separate non-prosecution disposition) was the designated lead petitioner for the recall case.

2. To counter recall movements initiated by other civic groups against KMT legislators, Chang ○-ming and others conspired to violate the Personal Data Protection Act and utter forged private documents. In January 2025 (Year 114 of the Republic), they forged a private seal of "Chen ○-chuan" and accessed the KMT’s organizational management database to download party membership lists within the electoral district. On January 24, they distributed these materials and blank proposal forms to staff. During the Lunar New Year, they surreptitiously filled out the forms by forging members' signatures without consent. On February 13, the lead petitioner, Chen ○-chuan (who was unaware of the forgery), submitted 2,505 recall proposal forms to the Central Election Commission, surpassing the required threshold of 2,159 for the Chiayi City legislative recall.

III. Upholding Democratic Values

1. The forged recall proposal forms are not merely private documents; they are a critical mechanism that determines whether an elected official must undergo a recall process. The rights to vote and recall are fundamental civil rights under Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of China. The defendants’ actions not only violated the will of the party members whose names were used but also posed a significant threat to the constitutional rights of the people, showing a total disregard for the law and a betrayal of public trust.

2. The Prosecutors Office, along with the investigation and police teams, remains committed to proactive investigation. We maintain an objective and neutral stance regardless of the individuals, parties, or statuses involved, ensuring clean elections and upholding democratic values.