The Ministry of Justice yesterday granted former Taipei City Councilor and Democratic Progressive Party member David Chou (周伯倫) parole amid criticism of political interference in the decision.
Chou was convicted for accepting NT$16 million in bribe money from Chiaofu Construction Corp -- the backer of the Ronghsing Park development project -- when he was a Taipei City councilor in 1988.
In 2003 Chou was sentenced to six years in prison -- some 15 years after the crime was committed. He was remanded to Hualien Prison on Feb. 17 of that year.
"Chou has actively joined in prison activities, and he has behaved well in the prison, so the ministry decided to grant his application for parole," said Vice Minister of Justice Tang Jinn-chuan (湯金全) yesterday, in an attempt to rebuke criticism.
According to the Election and Recall Law of Civil Servants (公職人員選罷法), Chou will be unable to work as a civil servant of run for office ever again, Tang added.
Chou filed his first application for parole before the end of last year, but the ministry's Department of Corrections declined his request.
Department director Huang Cheng-nan (黃徵男) said at the time Chou "needed more rehabilitation" because his prison records showed he had broken many rules, including hiding NT$50,000 in cash in his cell and smoking and chewing betel nuts at unauthorized times, since he began his jail term at the Hualien Prison.
However, Chou filed his second application for parole in February, which was approved by the ministry yesterday.
Chinese-language newspaper reports yesterday speculated that the ministry released Chou amid political pressure, noting that other prisoners would not be released under similar conditions.
The ministry yesterday released a press statement saying Chou has served a longer prison term than one of his co-defendants, Chen Chun-yuan (
The statement, in addition, said Chou has committed no other crimes since the Ronghsing Park development scandal, and the ministry regarded Chou as unlikely to commit a such a crime again. He was released after serving just over two years of his six-year sentence.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS