The Taiwan High Court yesterday began to hear the appeal by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who insisted his life term for graft was “illegal” and argued the evidence used to convict him was insufficient.
Chen was sentenced to life in prison by a district court last month for embezzling state funds, laundering money, accepting bribes and forgery. His wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), also received life imprisonment on graft convictions.
Chen's defense team yesterday challenged the legitimacy of the ruling, saying the district court violated litigation laws by convicting him despite insufficient evidence.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
“The ruling is based on presumption rather than concrete evidence. It is unbalanced, illogical and biased,” his lawyer Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍) told a panel of High Court judges.
Cheng argued that district court judges overlooked testimonies favorable to the former president as they pointed to his wife being the mastermind of collecting political donations and wiring the family's money abroad.
Chen, whose term as president ended in May last year, has dismissed his conviction as a political vendetta by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government for his support for Taiwanese independence.
Some legal academics have expressed concern over the handling of Chen's case, particularly criticizing the length of his detention, which started last December.
Chen suffered a fresh setback last week when the Council of Grand Justices rejected a petition to halt his trial and order his immediate release from detention.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS