The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will soon release a plan to assist former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with his ongoing court case, a party official said yesterday.
Chen has been held at the Taipei Detention Center since Dec. 30 on charges of money laundering, embezzlement and corruption. He was indicted on Dec. 12 and charged with illegally receiving or embezzling NT$490 million (US$15 million). He has repeatedly denied the charges and denounced his trial as political persecution.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Friday that the Taipei District Court’s extension of Chen’s detention violated his judicial rights. To protect his rights, the party had reached a consensus to come up with a plan to help Chen, Tsai said, adding it was mainly aimed at securing his immediate release.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday that on May 6 the party passed a resolution during a Central Standing Committee meeting that the party to request the court to release Chen immediately.
Cheng said the plan could consist of a signature drive or assembling lawyers to assist Chen.
A final decision had yet to be made, he said.
Cheng said Chen was treated unfairly during the judicial process, saying the judiciary violated a gag order during the investigation by leaking information from the investigation to the media, and that the Taipei District Court changed judges during the trial.
There were no judicial reasons to detain Chen during the trial, he said.
In other developments, despite Chen’s retraction of all requests to call witnesses, the district court said it would still summon Chen’s mother-in-law to testify in court this week.
Prosecutors had requested that the court summon Wu Wang Hsia (吳王霞), the mother of former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), to clarify whether Wu Shu-jen had used her mother’s account to transfer money and to determine how much the former first couple knew about such money transfers.
Chen had previously pleaded to the judge not to call his mother-in-law, saying she was more than 80 years old and was showing signs of dementia.
He has also retracted all requests to call remaining witnesses as part of his protest against what he calls an unfair judicial system.
However, Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓), who has the authority to decide whether to call certain witnesses in spite of Chen’s refusal, has ruled to call Wu Wu Wang Hsia.
She is scheduled to appear at the Taipei District Court on Thursday, when Chen will be represented by his two court-appointed attorneys, Tseng Te-rong (曾德榮) and Tang Chen-chi (唐禎祺).
Other members of the former first family to appear in court this week include Chen’s daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), her brother Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and her husband Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘). They will be questioned on perjury charges.
Prosecutors said they would arrange for extra police to maintain order when Chen Hsing-yu appears in court. The former first daughter is known for often being accompanied by large groups of people who act as her “bodyguards” to prevent her from being harassed.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS