Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) may not appear in court today to hear judges announce their verdict in his corruption trials, his secretary said yesterday.
The Taipei District Court is set to announce its verdict today for the former president and 13 codefendants in cases related to the presidential state affairs fund, a land deal in Taoyuan County’s Longtan Township (龍潭), a land deal related to the Nangang Exhibition Hall, money laundering, influence peddling and profiteering.
The crimes of which Chen is accused were allegedly committed during his two presidential terms from 2000 to last year. Chen faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but can appeal the verdicts.
Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), secretary of Chen’s office, was told by the former president yesterday to relay a message to his court-appointed attorney Tseng Te-rong (曾德榮) that Chen would not be appearing in court to hear the verdict delivered.
Chen asked Tseng to prepare the necessary papers to be presented to the district court saying that he would not attend, Chiang said. Chen also told Tseng that he planned to hire attorneys to file an appeal against the district court’s ruling, which is widely expected to find against Chen and his co-defendants.
Chen is expected to rehire are Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), Shih Yi-lin (石宜琳) and Hung Kwei-san (洪貴參), who represented him before he dismissed them in May. Chen dismissed his lawyers, retracted all requests to call witnesses and refused to answer questions in court in protest against what he called an “unfair justice system.”
The dismissals followed the district court’s decision to extend Chen’s detention because it said he might collude with witnesses or flee the country.
Chiang told reporters that Chen said he was emotionally ready for the verdict and felt very “calm,” because “he feels free in his heart.”
Because Chen may not appear in court tomorrow, hundreds of Chen’s supporters who had planned to gather outside the courtroom to protest may decide to change their plans, Chiang said.
In related news, the district court may hold another hearing to decide whether to extend Chen’s detention as the current term is set to expire.
Should the court find Chen guilty and papers filed by Chen’s attorneys to appeal the ruling are processed by the High Court before the detention expires on Sept. 25, then the decision whether to extend Chen’s detention would be decided by the judges in charge of Chen’s case at the High Court.
If, however, the papers do not reach the High Court before then, current presiding judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) of the Taipei District Court would hold another detention hearing.
As Chen and his lawyers do not expect a favorable decision from Tsai, who has repeatedly ruled that Chen should remain in detention, it is expected that Chen’s lawyers would file the appeal papers as soon as possible.
Chen has been incarcerated since Dec. 30. He has denied the charges and says his detention and trial amount to political persecution by the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
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