A new bill has been introduced into the US Congress calling on the Taiwanese government to grant medical parole to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
“Chen has not been able to receive adequate medical treatment in accordance with his wishes, such as selecting either doctors or hospitals, and has not been able to have complete access to his medical records,” the bill says.
Sponsored by US Representative Robert Andrews, the bill urges medical parole “effective immediately.”
The bill says that since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to office in 2008, a large number of investigations and prosecutions have been brought against members of the Democratic Progressive Party administration.
“Most of these prosecutions were politically motivated, in an apparent pattern of political score-settling,” the bill says.
Earlier this month, the New York Times ran an article on Chen, saying that his time in power “vexed Beijing with his advocacy of Taiwanese independence and riveted Washington, which saw him both as democratic pioneer and mercurial troublemaker.”
It said if Ma showed leniency, he would anger Chen’s old KMT opponents, “but doing nothing has left him looking heartless and vulnerable to continuing criticism.”
“Taiwan authorities need to understand that Chen’s imprisonment is severely damaging the international image of Taiwan as a free and democratic nation,” Formosan Association for Public Affairs president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
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Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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