Taichung County Council Speaker Yen Ching-piao's (
Late Monday night the court ruled that Yen and the council's vice speaker, Chang Ching-tang (
Yen was indicted on charges of corruption and attempted murder while Chang and Tsai were indicted for corruption.
PHOTO: YANG CHENG-CHUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Yen's family staged the sit-in in front of the district court and prosecutors' office to protest against what they called an unjust judiciary.
A crowd of supporters put up tents, held banners, tied yellow ribbons on nearby trees and proclaimed they would continue campaigning until Yen returns home.
KMT Legislator Tseng Chen-nung (
"It wouldn't have turned out to be so had he [Yen] not intended to run for County Commissioner," Tseng cried, "I told him that now it's them [the DPP] in power. We cannot afford to play the game with them."
Yen's family and Tseng went to the detention center to visit Yen, but once Tseng was in front of the center he declined to enter, saying he would become too sad if he saw Yen. He finally left in tears without visiting the detained speaker.
Yen's wife Hou Li-chuan (侯麗娟), meanwhile, said the family would appeal the ruling.
The controversy over Monday's dramatic developments continued yesterday.
The president of the Taichung District Court said the judge who ruled on Monday morning that Yen and Chang could receive bail could be disciplined if the ruling was proved to be procedurally flawed.
A senior district court judge, Lu Yen-jung (陸炎榮), ruled in favor of the petitions by Yen and Chang's family that the speaker and vice speaker be released on bail.
Yen's bail had been set at NT$2 million and his family had paid the money around 11:45am. However, prosecutors indicted Yen, Chang and Tsai and took them to court before Yen and Chang could be released on bail.
Presiding over a hearing that evening, judge Chuang Shen-yuan (
Prosecutors have claimed that Lu's ruling allowing bail was flawed because he alone reversed a ruling handed down by a three-judge panel -- a move the prosecutors claim violated the law.
But the court president said that the requirement of a panel in such a case is not mandatory, although a majority of judges in a meeting yesterday morning agreed that the bail ruling should not have been made by just one judge.
The president also said the court simultaneously notified the defense and the prosecutors by phone about the bail ruling before noon Monday.
The prosecutors, however, have claimed that they did not know about the ruling when they proceeded with the indictment, denying they had deliberately prevented Yen from being released.
Lee Ching-yi (
"I have no idea about what they said about telephone notification anyway," he said yesterday.
The corruption charges the three men face stem from allegations they used the council's "public relations budgets" to cover money they spent at hostess bars.
The attempted murder charge against Yen is linked, according to local media, to a 1996 shooting incident, when people from Yen's office fired shots at a vehicle driving around their office in Shalu township.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS