Taiwan's High Court overturned bribery convictions for two lawmakers in the long-running SOGO department store case — good news for Hsu Yung-ming and Chen Chao-ming, bad news for prosecutors.

• Hsu Yung-ming, once head of the New Power Party, had been sentenced to over seven years at trial and is now acquitted on appeal.
• Kuomintang lawmaker Chen Chao-ming was also cleared, while three others had their sentences upheld, the heaviest being ten years.
• The case grew out of a fight over control of SOGO, with a businessman accused of paying lawmakers to push the economics ministry on a change to company law.
• Hsu said little beyond noting this is his second acquittal on appeal, after an earlier land dispute case, and that he will comment once he has the written ruling.
• His former party said political and legal responsibility are separate things, and that praising judges only when rulings go your way is what really damages the courts.

Outlook: Prosecutors can still take the acquittals to Taiwan's Supreme Court, so the six-year legal fight may not be over.