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KMT set to enlist jailed Chiu Yi as legislator-at-large

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced it will enlist KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) as one of its legislators-at-large for January's legislative elections. KMT Secretary General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) confirmed the news yesterday.

Chiu was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his violent conduct during a protest at the Kaohsiung District Court following the 2004 presidential election. Chiu began serving time in April.

But, as result of the passage of the commutation statute last Friday by the legislature granting amnesty to prison inmates serving sentences of 18 months or less, Chiu is now set to be released from prison on Nov. 26.

In response to Wu's remarks, the Chinese-language China Times reported that Chiu gladly accepted the nomination.

Wu said that there was consensus within the party regarding the nomination of Chiu as a legislator-at-large. Chiu will be nominated according to party procedure following recommendations to the party's central leadership in September and October, Wu said.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on April 24 proposed an amnesty plan in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident and the 20th anniversary of the lifting of martial law in 1987.

Acting on Chen's directive, the Cabinet drafted a commutation bill and referred it to the legislature for approval.

Although the Democratic Progressive Party supported the drafted bill, it was the version proposed by the KMT and the People First Party that was passed by the legislature on Friday after a cross-party consensus was reached.

The Cabinet-drafted version would only grant commutation to those who had received a one-year sentence or less, compared to the opposition's proposal of one-and-a-half-year sentences or less.

Some DPP lawmakers accused the KMT of tailoring the statute to benefit Chiu.

In related news, a Presidential Office spokesman said yesterday that the president would consider the legislature's suggestion that he grant a special pardon to an imprisoned "rice bomber" in a reasonable, fair-minded way.

The spokesman made the remarks after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution on Friday requesting a presidential amnesty for Yang Ju-men (楊儒門), better known as the "rice bomber."
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