Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was taken home from a prison hospital yesterday after Taichung Prison declined to admit her because of her poor health.
The Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office ordered Wu’s son, Greater Kaohsiung Councilor Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), to take his wheelchair-bound mother home after a medical team at Pei Teh Hospital concluded that Wu was not well enough to serve her sentence.
The office also ruled that Wu could not change her residence in Greater Kaohsiung without permission and was prohibited from leaving the country.
Photo: CNA
The office said in a statement that it would send staff to visit Wu regularly to see if her health had improved enough to enable her to begin her sentence.
Wang Chun-li (王俊力), a senior prosecutor at the office, said that as there was no home detention system in Taiwan, Wu’s prison term remains unchanged.
“Wu’s incarceration has only been postponed indefinitely,” Wang said, adding that her appearance at the office and the prison hospital yesterday would not be deducted from her sentence.
Wang said Wu would be summoned to start serving her full 17-and-a-half-year jail term whenever the prosecutors’ office decides she is well enough to stay behind bars.
Wu was sent to the Taichung Prison-run Pei Teh Hospital earlier in the day to assess her health.
Wu, who has been paralyzed from the waist down since she was run over by a truck 27 years ago, was greeted by hundreds of supporters as she arrived at the hospital amid tight security.
Many shouted: “A-Chen is innocent” — referring to her by her nickname, and briefly scuffled with police as they tried to get past barricades to enter the hospital.
A team composed of 14 physicians from China Medical University in Taichung assessed the state of Wu’s health in 10 categories as part of a series of examinations that lasted from 10am to 2pm.
Yang Mei-tu (楊美都), deputy superintendent of the university, who took part in the assessment, said Wu suffers from low blood pressure, an autonomic nervous system disorder and heart disease.
“The medical team concluded that Wu’s chances of survival are unpredictable, that she cannot take care of herself on a day-to-day basis and that it is difficult to provide care for her,” Yang said.
Based on the team’s assessment, the Taichung Prison said it decided not to admit Wu, in accordance with Article 11 of the Prison Act (監獄行刑法).
The decision to suspend her sentence triggered an angry response from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was among the first to allege corruption against the Chen family.
“There are other people with chronic serious illnesses who are currently serving their prison terms, and this is very unfair to them. Many people are angry and this could trigger a political storm,” Chiu said.
Wu and her husband, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), were each sentenced to a total of 19 years in jail by the Supreme Court in November last year for taking bribes when Chen Shui-bian was president.
However, the Taiwan High Court ruled in December that Wu and Chen Shui-bian should each serve 17-and-a-half years.
The former president, who had been held at a detention center since late 2008, was transferred to Taipei Prison in Taoyuan County on Dec. 2 to begin serving his sentence.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS