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My husband shot the president, dead suspect's wife says

The wife of the man suspected of shooting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said in a police videotape released yesterday that her husband was responsible for the shooting.

"It was my husband who shot President Chen. He took responsibility for it by killing himself. I feel very sorry that he has deeply hurt the public, and I would like to apologize on his behalf. I hope the whole matter can come to an end quickly," said the wife of Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who requested that she not be identified.

The video was played at the Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday. Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said he hoped the public would make allowances for Chen Yi-hsiung's family and help their lives return to normal.

However, Tainan District Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Kuo Chen-ni (郭珍妮) said three members of Chen Yi-hsiung's family -- his eldest son, the son's wife and his youngest daughter -- had been charged with destroying evidence.

Kuo said the three had lied to investigators and destroyed evidence relating to the shooting on March 19 last year.

Meanwhile, pan-blue camp legislators, including People First Party (PFP) Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) and PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), yesterday said Chen Yi-hsiung might have been murdered.

They said police had failed to find the most important evidence -- the gun and bullets used in the shooting -- and alleged that police were wrapping up the investigation prematurely.

Police, however, have said that the investigation is continuing.

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday told the legislature that "because the assassination attempt was real, the investigation probe had to deal with several suspicious matters. If the assassination was faked, surely it would have looked like a perfect crime."

The identification of Chen Yi-hsiung as the main suspect was a big breakthrough, Hsieh said, but police needed to gather more evidence to satisfy the public.

Hou said investigators were still looking for the gun and the bullets used in the assassination attempt. He said that finding the weapon and ammunition would be tough, as they may have been destroyed. But he welcomed public assistance in the matter.

"Another difficulty is that Chen [Yi-hsiung] had few friends from whom we could gather more information," Hou said.

Hou said that because Chen Yi-hsiung's corpse had no wounds when it was recovered from An-ping port on March 29 last year, it was thought to be a suicide.

And because the corpse had already been cremated, it would be impossible to reexamine the body.

When asked to comment on Chen Yi-hsiung's apparent suicide yesterday, US forensic scientist Henry Lee (李昌鈺) told reporters that although Chen Yi-hsiung had been cremated, careful re-examination of pictures of his body and the autopsy report might provide new evidence.

The chairman of the Tainan Wrestling Association, Huang Kun-hsing (黃昆興), on Monday said that the yellow jacket Chen Yi-hsiung apparently wore on March 19 when caught on surveillance video was the association's uniform. Chen Yi-hsiung was a member of the wrestling association.

also see story:
PFP shrugs off shooting case breakthrough

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