Guard: DPP ran Chen's security

Former chief guard General Chen Tsai-fu yesterday visits the Taiwan High Court to testify as a witness during a hearing regarding the March 19 assassination attempt. PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Former chief presidential guard General Chen Tsai-fu (陳再福) said yesterday that the man driving the Jeep carrying the president and vice president during the March 19 assassination attempt did not go through an official security check.

Chen told the Taiwan High Court that the president's vehicle and driver usually undergo a thorough security check by the National Security Bureau. Once the vehicle is cleared, nobody is allowed to approach it before the mission.

"However, for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) parade on March 19, they showed up as the presidential candidates, instead of as the president and the vice president. As a result, the necessary security checks were carried out by DPP local headquarters instead of us," Chen Tsai-fu said.

"I did not know and meet Kuo Yu-hsin (郭雨新), the driver, until the morning of that day," the general added.

On why the president and the vice president rode in an open vehicle, Chen Tsai-fu said that the DPP picked the vehicle, not the bureau.

Chen Tsai-fu made his remarks at the hearing presided over yesterday morning by High Court Judge Wu Ching-yuan (吳景源).

In addition to hearing testimony from the former chief presidential guard, Wu also summoned senior police officer Chang Chun-po (張春波), Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), Chimei Hospital deputy superintendent Lee Hao-hsien (李浩銑) and presidential physician Hsiao Tsu-yu (蕭自佑).

Wu asked for more detail about the process of medical treatment for the president and vice-president after the assassination attempt.

Chang told the hearing that the president did not at first realize that he was shot and bleeding. Chang was standing next to the president on the Jeep at the time.

"[The president] turned to me and said that he felt `uncomfortable in the stomach,'" Chang said. "He then realized immediately that he was bleeding and that it was actually a gunshot wound."

Wu ordered the hearing to be closed to the public at 11:20am, when witnesses were to go into more detail about the medical treatment given to the president and the vice president after the shooting.

The hearing is expected to finish before the end of the month.