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Su Chih-fen leaves hospital to continue hunger strike

Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen, center, holds her arms up in protest against her indictment for corruption as she was discharged from a hospital in Yunlin County and returned to detention. PHOTO: CNA

Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), who launched a hunger strike on Tuesday, was discharged from hospital at her own request yesterday and escorted back to the detention center where she is being held in connection with a corruption case.

Su was rushed to hospital on Friday after her health deteriorated rapidly.

“She will continue her hunger strike and will continue to refuse preferential treatment by the detention house because she is innocent and believes she has been unfairly treated by the judicial system,” said Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), Su’s attorney.

Lee said that the hospital had complied with Su’s wish to be released so that she could return to the detention center to continue her hunger strike.

Although Su was upset about the prosecutors’ decision not to issue a summons before detaining her, she decided to protest by not appealing.

“We believe our appeal will not change anything, because prosecutors already believe that Su is guilty,” Lee said.

Yunlin prosecutors arrested Su at her home last Tuesday and she was placed in detention later that same day.

Su began her hunger strike shortly thereafter, even though judges granted her NT$6 million (US$183,000) bail the following day.

She refused to make bail, saying she could not afford it.

That same day, the Yunlin District Court announced it would detain her for two more months.

Prosecutors allege that Su was involved in a NT$5 million bribery case.

She has been accused of accepting the money from a contractor in return for helping speed up a landfill construction project by avoiding an environmental assessment.

Several DPP officials visited Su in the hospital on Sunday, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), former party chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) and DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德).
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