Taichung's County Council speaker and vice speaker were detained early yesterday morning after nearly 10 hours of questioning in connection with several criminal charges, including murder.
At 3am yesterday morning, the Taichung District Court approved a prosecutors' request to detain county speaker Yen Ching-piao (
The approval will allow prosecutors a maximum of 60 days for questioning.
Both Yen and Chang are to be questioned in connection with alleged corruption, while Yen is also to be questioned over allegations of attempted murder and banditry.
In a rapid response to the detention of Yen and Chang, family members, lawmakers and local representatives came out in full force yesterday, claiming the charges brought against the two were, at best, politically motivated.
Sobbing as she spoke, Yen's wife, Hou Li-juan (侯麗娟), said, "the judicial system is unfair. He is just a victim of political persecution."
Yen's wife was flanked by rows of friends, family members and local representatives.
Among those present was lawmaker and close friend, Tseng Chen-nung (
Tseng said he was willing to stake his political career on Yen's innocence.
"If Yen is found guilty of killing any individual, is guilty of the crime of banditry or of bribery, I will step down from my post as a lawmaker," Tseng said.
"This is a bona fide case of political persecution."
Some speculate that because Yen and Chang are both influential members of Taichung County's two main political factions, the black faction (
For years, under the KMT, the two factions were powerful tools for mobilizing voters and reportedly for funneling election funds and conducting vote buying.
However, after last year's presidential elections and with the formation of the PFP, the power of the two factions has gradually weakened as members of the factions have been divided between the KMT and PFP, political analysts say.
During last year's presidential elections, Yen was kicked out of the KMT after he publicly supported then independent candidate James Soong (
Yesterday, Soong, distanced himself from Yen, saying, politicians "should be careful in what they say," when commenting on the case.
From the moment he was detained, Yen has voiced his innocence.
Television footage yesterday morning showed an exhausted Yen chewing a mouth full of betel nut as he was ushered off to the Taichung County detention center.
Yen, who looks more like a professional wrestler and goes by the nickname of "stone pumpkin," shouted "I haven't been judged yet and already I am guilty," as he was being escorted away by authorities.
Lee Ching-yi (李慶義), head of the Central Taiwan Special Investigative Force, denied accusations that the prosecutors' arrest was politically motivated.
"Prosecutors have been very meticulous and thorough in their approach to this case. All of the documents and evidence related to this case have been collected over a period of one to two years," Lee said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS