Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has railed against Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that he and his wife should spend at least 11 years in prison — calling it “political murder” and suggesting that the verdict was unconstitutional, close supporter Ellen Huang (黃越綏) said yesterday.
Huang, a one-time national policy advisor, visited the former president at the Taipei Detention Center yesterday.
During the meeting, Chen expressed frustration at the ruling, which cannot be appealed, saying that it was unexpected and unfair, Huang said.
“Chen believes that the ruling was in violation of the Constitution and a kind of political murder,” Huang said, describing a conversation that was also attended by office secretary Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘).
“Chen thinks that the main reason was because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party want him dead,” Huang said.
In an unexpected decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled both Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), were guilty of accepting bribes in a land purchase scandal and facilitating a financial appointment, sentencing the couple to 11 years and eight years in prison respectively.
The court added that the first couple would have to pay a fine of NT$150 million (US$5 million) each and it also turned three other cases — charges in another land purchase deal, money laundering and the embezzlement of secret diplomatic funds — back to a lower court for a retrial.
Huang said Chen believes the latest ruling is political retribution and that he said: “History will change and there will not be a -political party that lasts forever.”
Huang added that the former president would “continue to wait in the shadows” and that he hasn’t given up hope.
Meanwhile, prison officials at the Taipei Detention Center, where Chen has been incarcerated for more than 700 days, were quoted by Central News Agency as saying yesterday that while it was impossible to tell how Chen was feeling, the former president was eating and drinking normally. Chen, who likely learned of the latest ruling on television, declined to go outside for his daily exercise, they said.
While Chen could be transferred to Taipei Prison following confirmation of whether his sentences would be served consecutively or concurrently, it is currently unclear where Wu, paralyzed below the waist, could be detained.
Under the Prison Act (監獄行刑法), prosecutors have discretion on where to hold elderly and disabled prisoners.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said yesterday that currently both the Taichung Prison and the Kaohsiung Prison are equipped with medical facilities. Prosecutors would make the final call on Wu, Tseng said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIN LIANG-CHEN
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