Detained Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) was hospitalized last night as her hunger strike entered its third day, while prosecutors in charge of her corruption case implied she could be released as soon as the indictment is complete.
Su, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was detained on Tuesday over her alleged involvement in corruption connected to the construction of a landfill project. Prosecutors allege that she accepted a NT$5 million (US$150,000) bribe from a construction company in return for ensuring that the project passed the environmental impact assessment quickly so that construction could be completed earlier than scheduled.
Officials at Yunlin No. 2 Prison’s Detention House said that Su began her hunger strike soon after she was escorted to her cell.
Twenty-four hours after being detained, the Yunlin District Court offered to released her on NT$6 million bail, but Su turned that down and insisted on her innocence.
She told the judges: “I do not have that kind of money.”
Su’s supporters have continued to protest outside the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office. Yunlin branch members of the DPP and Su’s supporters claim that the commissioner is innocent and have said her detention is the result of “political persecution,” an allegation rebutted by Yunlin District Chief Prosecutor Liu Chia-fang (劉家芳).
“I do not belong to any political party. I am just a prosecutor who has been doing his job for many decades,” Liu said.
Liu said that he was very upset by those who have accused him of “being a Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] tool being used to oppress the DPP.”
“Prosecutors do not accuse people for no reason. We are currently working on the indictment and it will be completed in the near future,” Liu said.
Liu said that he personally recognized and respected what Su had done for Yunlin County and added that his colleagues had tried their best to allow Su to retain her dignity.
“We decided to detain her at home in the early morning because that way we could avoid being mobbed by the media,” Liu said.
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