Former New Party legislator Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) was on Wednesday released from prison on medical parole after serving only 85 days of a 40-month jail term for sexually assaulting his Philippine maid.
Agency of Corrections officials yesterday confirmed that Fung was released from Taipei Prison after being granted medical parole for bile duct cancer.
After seven High Court trials over 10 years, the Supreme Court in October last year upheld a guilty verdict, handing Fung a more than three-year prison term, which he began on Oct. 26 last year.
Fung was convicted of raping his Filipina maid in November 2003 and January 2004.
After he appealed a lower court ruling that found him guilty, the High Court upheld the ruling in 2007 and 2008 based on the maid’s statements, examination of medical evidence and a DNA test that matched Fung’s sample with semen found on the victim.
Before beginning his incarceration, Fung applied for a suspension to his sentence, claiming to have cancer and a history of cardiovascular illness, but officials rejected his application.
After beginning his sentence, Fung and his lawyer continued to request an early release on medical parole, saying that his condition had worsened.
The former lawmaker obtained documents confirming his diagnosis from doctors at a certified hospital, and a prison review panel approved medical parole to allow him to receive proper medical treatment, agency officials said.
News of his early parole caused heated public debate, with many people expressing anger at the leniency shown to the former legislator, who claims that his conviction was the result of political persecution.
Some netizens called Fung a hypocrite, quoting him as saying that he would gladly serve the jail term because it would help the cause of unification with China.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
RSS