Former Tainan mayor George Chang (張燦鍙) returned home on Friday, thanking his friends and supporters for not forgetting about him during the past two years he has spent in prison.
As he was released on medical parole from Tainan Prison, Chang, 80, was greeted by his family, well-wishers and former city government staff who had worked under him during his term as mayor from 1997 to 2001.
A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) when he won the mayoral election in 1997, Chang was in 2000 investigated on suspicion of corruption related to city infrastructure projects.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Through subsequent appeals and retrials, the Supreme Court in its final ruling in March 2014 found Chang guilty on corruption charges and handed him a three-year prison term.
However, Chang has maintained his innocence. His family and supporters have long maintained the case was political persecution against a DPP elected official and a prominent figure in the overseas Taiwanese independence movement, and that he had been wrongly convicted on unreliable witness testimony and flimsy evidence.
Supporters said the justice system was against Chang and out to prosecute a prominent independence leader. Supporters said the courts had consistently ignored evidence presented by Chang in his favor, and that the judges had too much liberty and personal bias when giving the final verdict.
Chang was granted medical parole after repeated petitions. He has lower back problems and was transported in a wheelchair by family members.
“I want to thank my many friends for not giving up, providing their support and showing concern for me in the past two years,” Chang said. “Right now I need to rest and recuperate. There are words I would like to say and will arrange for an official occasion in the future to release my statements.”
A graduate of National Taiwan University, Chang obtained his doctorate and taught chemical engineering at US universities in the 1960s and 1970s.
He is best known as an early leader of the Taiwanese independence movement in the US and for lobbying the US government to support Taiwan’s freedom and democracy during the Martial Law era.
Along with fellow members of the Taiwanese “exile community” in the US, Chang helped to establish several activist organizations, culminating in the founding of the World United Formosans for Independence (台灣獨立建國聯盟) in 1970, for which he served as vice chairman from 1970 to 1973, and was elected chairman from 1974 to 1987.
In the aftermath of a violent crackdown on a demonstration in then-Kaohsiung City on Dec. 10, 1979, to demand an end to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) one-party rule and the lifting of martial law, known as the Formosa Incident (美麗島事件), Chang led fellow Taiwanese communities in the US to support the suspects arrested by the KMT and lobbied the US government to support democracy and human rights in Taiwan.
Chang returned to Taiwan in 1991, but was arrested and charged by the KMT government on sedition charges for offenses against the internal security of the state. However, it had led to an international outcry and the law was amended. Chang was found not guilty and released in October 1992.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS