Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) mother made a plea for her son’s release yesterday, one day before the Taiwan High Court is expected to decide whether to continue his detention.
Attending a funeral for the former president’s uncle in Tainan, Chen Lee Shen (陳李慎) said: “My son did nothing wrong. Why has he been detained so long?”
“As a mother, I feel deeply sad. I cannot eat during the day and cannot sleep at night,” she said.
PHOTO: CNA
Chen Shui-bian has been detained for more than 500 days and his current term of detention is scheduled to end on April 23.
Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球), the presiding judge in the case, said during Friday’s hearing that the court intended to make a decision today.
Teng had said the Chen family would have to remit NT$700 million (US$21 million) to a designated account if the former president were to have any chance of being released on bail.
Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said of the judge’s remark that he and his family had done everything they could to have the money from his family’s Swiss bank accounts remitted to Taiwan and that it was up to the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to decide when the transfer would take place.
The Taiwan High Court has announced it will deliver a verdict for the second trial on June 11.
The Taipei District Court sentenced Chen Shui-bian and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to life in prison in September after handing down a guilty verdict in the first trial against the former first couple and 11 others.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
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