Former DPP lawmaker Chou Po-lun (
Yesterday morning, joined by more than a hundred of his supporters, Chou's former DPP legislative colleagues Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏), Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Chiu Chui-chen (邱垂貞), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) organized a farewell party for him in front of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.
"I shall return," Chou said to the crowd. "I was knocked down, but I shall get up again." Chou was referring to his coming back for a legislative or a city councilor seat again when he finished his jail term. He will not be able to "get up again," at least for the next seven years, because he has to finish at least half of his sentence to qualifiyfor being paroled.
In addition, the final verdict also suspends Chou's civil liberties for another four years after he serves his jail term. The move strips Chou of the right to vote and to run for office for at least seven years from today, at which time he will be 54 years old.
Chou was supposed to report to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office to begin his jail term on Feb. 25. However, he decided to begin earlier.
In addition, to successfully serve his sentence at the Hualien Prison, Chou changed his household registration from Taipei County to Hualien County on Feb. 12. Taipei District Prosecutors' Office Execution Department Chief Prosecutor Weng Hung-tsai (翁宏在) confirmed Chou's re-registration in Hualien and said that Chou's file records were transferred to the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office, where Chou will report to at 10am today.
Chou did not say why he wanted to serve his sentence in Hualien. But Ker said that Chou decided to do so because he did not want to have too many visitors.
"He told me that he wanted to take the advantage of the time behind bars to read some more books. The Hualien Prison is far away from Taipei. He hoped that it will help keep some visitors away," Ker said.
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