TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A request for interview records by the defense team in the trial of former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was rejected by Taipei Court on Friday. 

Ko and his team petitioned for the complete original recordings of interrogations conducted with 142 individuals by Taipei District Prosecutors, but the request was rejected, reported UDN. The defense team in the ongoing Core Pacific City corruption case has accused prosecutors of unethical interrogation methods to pressure defendants.

In April, Ko’s team sought to publicly disclose records of interrogations involving two of Ko’s codefendants in the case, Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) and Urban Planning Commission Executive Secretary Shao Hsiu-pei (邵琇珮). They alleged that the unedited video and audio records prove prosecutorial misconduct. 

After negotiations, the prosecution and defense came to an agreement on the release video of interrogations with Pong and Shao, along with two of Ko’s own interrogations. However, the Taipei Court denied both motions, claiming the video records did not merit public release. 

Ko’s lawyers allege the records submitted to the defense team differ from the original records stored by the clerks. The defense team has specifically mentioned the initial interrogations with Pong on Sept. 3-4, and with Shao on Sept. 2-3.

This week, Ko and his lawyers requested that the hard drives and paper files of three clerks at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office be seized and turned over to the defense team. The defense is seeking the original devices used to make the recordings and backup files from the clerk’s work computers, per UDN. 

In the ruling by the Taipei Court to reject the defense’s request, they said that interviews with 142 people related to the case have already been supplied to Ko’s defense counsel. The files provided comprise 486 interview transcripts stored on 25 CDs. 

The court said that in Ko’s initial request for the records, the defense did not specify in which form the records should be provided. They also said that neither Pong nor Shao have made any claims alleging unfair treatment or prosecutorial misconduct.

This week, the court also rejected a separate petition by Ko’s defense to dismiss the case based on health concerns, reported UDN. They allege that Ko is in poor health due to kidney stones and related urinary tract issues, but the court dismissed the motion on the grounds that Ko’s health has improved significantly in recent weeks.