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 (
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.
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 (
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 (
"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 (
"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 (
also see story:
Pan-blue big guns attend KMT rally
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS