More than 150 supporters gathered outside the Taipei County Hospital in Banciao to demand the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who was in stable condition yesterday but still refusing to eat for the seventh day since being detained last Wednesday.
The hospital said it had no plans to force feed him and was evaluating when to send Chen back to the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng (土城), Taipei County.
Chen is suspected of money laundering, taking bribes, forgery and embezzling NT$15 million (US$450,000) during his two terms in office. He has been held incommunicado without charge.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The former president has accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of “political persecution” and of waging a “political vendetta” against him to curry favor with China.
Tainan County Councilor Chen Chao-lai (陳朝來) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced on Monday that he would mobilize some 400 supporters from Chen Shui-bian's hometown in Tainan, but only 150 showed up yesterday.
The supporters held placards and chanted slogans, “A-bian, jiayou,” referring to the former president by his nickname, and demanded his release. They were later dispersed by the police on the grounds that it was an illegal gathering.
Chen Shui-bian remained in stable condition yesterday after being intravenously fed at the hospital.
Yang Chang-bin (楊長彬), the hospital's deputy director, said that while Chen still refused to eat, his condition had improved.
The former president was conscious, his blood acidity has dropped and his X-ray scans were clear, Yang said.
Chen weighed 65.5kg with a heartbeat rate of 86 per minute, Yang said, adding however that Chen still suffered from minor bloating and that doctors found ketone reaction in Chen's urine.
Doctors will continue to treat him with nutritional supplements and other measures to prevent his health from deteriorating, Yang said.
Saying that Chen is still too weak to be released, Yang said the hospital would evaluate his condition and after consulting with the detention center, would decide how long Chen should remain hospitalized.
Asked when the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) will question Chen, SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said the former president's health outweighed everything and they would not consider questioning him until he was fit to do so.
Later last night, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited Chen Shui-bian at the hospital.
Meanwhile, Chen Shui-bian's brother, Chen Wen-shou (陳文狩), told reporters camped outside the family's house in Kuantian Township (官田) in Tainan County that his mother is over 80 years old and her health condition is unstable.
Her health has deteriorated since his brother was incarcerated, he said, adding that his mother made a trip to a hospital in Kaohsiung, where she is now under the care of his elder sister.
The former president's mother is suspected of allowing the former first family to use her name as a dummy account for money laundering. The SIP intended to question her on Monday, but she asked for a leave of absence because of poor health.
Chen Wen-shou said that his mother had not yet received further notice from the SIP, but she would answer the subpoena as soon as her health condition improved.
In other developments, Chiayi Count Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) of the DPP, who was sent to hospital on Monday night for treatment after staging a hunger strike since Nov. 11, still refused to eat yesterday.
Chen Ming-wen, who allegedly divulged the reserve price of a tender for a sewage processing plant in the county, was detained and held incommunicado since Oct. 28.
Chiayi Chief Prosecutor Hung Kwang-hsuan said yesterday that his fellow prosecutors would consider the request made by Chen Ming-wen's wife, Liao Su-hui (廖素惠), and his lawyer Liu Jung-yi (劉炯意) to allow him to have visitors.
Liao said she would persuade her husband in person to give up the hunger strike if prosecutors allowed her husband to receive visitors.
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