Mon, Mar 13, 2006 page1

• 319 shooter's family changes their tune

  REVERSAL Almost two years after the assassination attempt, the family of the man police believe was the shooter said they were forced to make false statements

  • By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER WITH AFP
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  The acrimonious fight over the election-eve shooting of the president and vice president again reared its head yesterday, as family members of the man police said was behind the shooting retracted their previous statements, claiming police intimidation.

  After a lengthy investigation, Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), a man who committed suicide shortly after the incident, was identified by police as the shooter in the attack on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in Tainan on March 19, 2004. Last year, his family members, including his wife, wrote and videotaped numerous statements supporting the police's conclusion.

  The family of Chen had previously said he carried out the shooting because he was depressed about being unemployed and blamed the president's policies.

  

  Lee Shu-chiang, center, the wife of the deceased Chen Yi-hsiung, the only suspect in the March 19, 2004, assassination attempt on the president and vice president, is accompanied by former lawmaker Su Ying-kuei, left, as she prepares to hold a press conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

  PHOTO: LU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

  They now say they were coerced into making these claims.

  "We had no choice but to say what the police wanted us to say when we were questioned again and again, until they were satisfied with our answers," the family said in a statement, asking the police to make public the interrogation records.

  Different story

  About a year ago, Chen's wife Lee Shu-chiang (李淑江) said in a police videotape that Chen took responsibility for the shooting by killing himself and she felt sorry about this and wanted to apologize on his behalf.

  Yesterday, however, Lee and three of her children denied their previous claims in a press conference in the legislature, saying that Chen was not the shooter, that he was falsely accused and that he had been murdered.

  Police and prosecutors scoffed at what the family claimed was new evidence.

  "It is not new at all," Lin Teh-hua (林德華), the official in charge of the investigation team, told reporters.

  "We have 11 witnesses who identified the man in the photo as Chen Yi-hsiung," he said.

  Lee said that she was asked by Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) commissioner at that time, to make the remarks in the videotape.

  "Hou said that I would have to accept the consequences if I didn't say [what they wanted]. In order to protect my children, I read what they wanted me to read and apologized," Lee said.

  Rebuttal

  Later in the day, Hou, who is now the director-general of the National Police Agency, held a press conference to rebut the accusation.

  "All the evidence we used to establish Chen's guilt was obtained from the investigation. We didn't fake anything and we didn't force any confessions," Hou said.

  Hou said that he could understand why Chen's family might have had a hard time accepting that Chen was the shooter.

  On March 7 last year, Chen was identified after the police traced people who had made purchases from an arms maker. They narrowed down their search to a bald man in a yellow jacket, who was taped standing in the "hot zone" at the crime scene.

  The Supreme Prosecutors Office then announced on Aug. 17 that the investigation of the 319 shooting was closed. They concluded that Chen, whom the prosecutors believe committed suicide, was entirely responsible for the shooting.

  However, opposition parties have highlighted some aspects of the case -- such as the weapon not being found, Chen's body being found in a fishing net and the family's claim to having destroyed a suicide note -- to cast doubt on Chen's guilt.

  "The `yellow coated bald guy' was not my father," Chen's daughter said.

  She added, "[The police] told me that I would be sentenced to seven years in prison if I didn't make the confession [they wanted]."

  No new evidence

  Still, the Tainan Prosecutors' Office said it was unlikely to reopen the case without new evidence.

  Lin said he suspected political motives were behind the family's move, which coincided with an opposition rally and came a week before the anniversary of the shooting.

  "We hope the Chen family was not used by some people with ulterior motives," he said.

  Meanwhile, former TSU lawmaker -- now a member of the KMT -- Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) accused the police of faking the videotape of the shooter. He displayed another photo to back his argument.

  "Although there was a time lag of 17 seconds between the two photos, it is unreasonable that the crime scene of the videotape contained just a few people, while the photo I had was jam-packed with people," Su said.

  Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday proposed that the new state public prosecutor-general form another task force to investigate the March 19 assassination attempt again. She also said she hoped to talk with Chen's family in order to have a better understanding of the matter.

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