Supporters of the detained Taichung County Council speaker Yen Ching-piao (
Meanwhile, Yen and Chang's defense counsel appealed against the court ruling remanding the two in custody.
The district court early Wed-nesday morning approved the prosecutors' request to detain Yen and Chang on several criminal charges, including corruption for both and attempted murder for the speaker -- charges the pair's supporters say are trumped up.
Around 8:30am, more than one hundred local people gathered outside the court building, holding banners reading "We love Yen Ching-piao [and] Chang Ching-tang," "Yen and Chang are innocent," and so on. They shouted that the pair's detention amounted to political persecution and demanded their release.
"If councilors going to girly bars on the council budget can be called corruption, then there is corruption in every county and city council nationwide, not just in Taichung County," Yen and Chang's defense counsel, Chang Ching-tsung (
The prosecution said the Taichung County speaker, vice speaker and several councilors spent money budgeted by the council as "public relations funds" on entertainment at hostess bars.
The prosecutors claimed that the speaker and vice speaker are "public officials," as defined by the Criminal Code, while the Civil Servant Services Act (
But Chang said the speaker, vice speaker and all councilors are public representatives, not "public officials" as in the Civil Servant Services Act, and there was no law banning public repre-sentatives from going to hostess bars.
"For councilors, social activities at places like hostess bars are about public relations, and so there is no problem using the [public relations] budget there," Chang said.
"The roles of public representatives are different [from public servants]," Chang added.
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