The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to revoke a Taiwan High Court ruling last month that he remain in custody for another two months.
Chen filed the appeal after a three-judge panel from the High Court ruled on Dec. 17 that he be kept behind bars for another two months, on the grounds that he might abscond if released from detention.
After a review, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court ruling and turned down Chen’s appeal.
The high court ruling said Chen should be detained for another two months from Dec. 24 to Feb. 23. The next hearing on whether he should be detained for a longer period might be held before the Feb. 13 to Feb. 21 Lunar New Year holiday.
The judges said in their ruling that Chen has had the chance to come into contact with foreign governments and members of the private sector, making him “more familiar than ordinary people with ways to flee overseas.”
With Chen’s influence and the assets stashed overseas by his family, he could live a comfortable life if he were to run away to evade the severe sentence he could face, the judges said.
Both Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen, were sentenced on Sept. 11 by the Taipei District Court to life in prison, in addition to receiving fines of NT$200 million (US$6.13 million) and NT$300 million, respectively, on several counts of corruption, including embezzling from a presidential fund for state affairs, taking bribes from local businessmen and money laundering.
Chen was first detained on Nov. 12, 2008, and was released on Dec. 13, 2008, following his indictment.
He was detained again on Dec. 30, 2008, after the Taipei District Court approved a request by prosecutors to take him back into custody and he has not been released since.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Police today said they are stepping up patrols throughout the Taipei MRT system, after a social media user threatened to detonate a bomb at an unspecified station this afternoon. Although they strongly believe the threat to be unsubstantiated, Taipei Metro police and the Railway Police Bureau still said that security and patrols would be heightened through the system. Many copycat messages have been posted since Friday’s stabbing attacks at Taipei Main Station and near Zhongshan MRT Station that left three dead and 11 injured, police said. Last night, a Threads user in a post said they would detonate a bomb on the Taipei
RSS