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City Hall corpse discovery sparks conspiracy theory

The corpse of a 34-year-old woman who died as long as six months ago was discovered at Taipei City Hall late on Thursday night, prompting a woman claiming to be her sister to suggest that she had been murdered to suppress her protests aimed at the president.

The body of Chen Chin-chu (陳金珠), who was reported missing last December, was found on a balcony on the northeastern side of the city hall's third floor by two workers who went out to remove advertising.

According to prosecutors, the woman probably died six months ago with the cause of death thought to be a compound fracture sustained in a fall.

Investigators said that they suspected the woman had committed suicide.

"The body was not found until months later because it was in a part of the building [that is not often used]," Taipei City's Xinyi District deputy chief of police Huang Shi-Chin (黃勢清) said yesterday morning.

FOUL PLAY

However, the dead woman's sister said she suspected foul play and demanded that the police investigate.

The woman, who refused to give her name, read from her late sister's diary in support of her accusation.

"I've heard about political suppression, but I never thought it would happen to me in a democratic country. Now I feel it and I believe there will be more to come," she quoted the diary as saying at a press conference at the city council yesterday.

The woman was accompanied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Chin-yuan (李慶元) and New Party Taipei City Councilor Hou Kuan-chiung (侯冠群).

The woman said Chen Chin-chu believed that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had fabricated the March 19 attempt on his life and that of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to garner sympathy and win the 2004 presidential election.

She said her sister had waved the national flag in front of the Presidential Office every night since then as a protest.

PRESSURE

Chen Chin-chu was questioned by police over her protests last June.

Her sister said that she was under tremendous pressure before she went missing as a result of repeated warnings from law enforcement officials.

Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei city councilors lashed out at Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over the incident yesterday, accusing him of negligence and poor management.

"This may be a minor incident, but do you realize that the body might have been there when tens of thousands of people celebrated the new year in front of the city hall?" DPP city councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) said during a question-and-answer session at Taipei City Council.

Ma acknowledged the city government's carelessness and promised that the matter would be looked into.
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