To coincide with Mother’s Day on Sunday, former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) mother yesterday launched an appeal calling for justice for her son.
Sunday will mark Chen’s 529th day in custody following accusations of and later convictions on corruption, money laundering and graft charges, while calls for his release by groups loyal to the former president and by pro-independence organizations have been growing.
Protesters unhappy with last month’s ruling by the Taiwan High Court prolonging Chen’s detention for at least another two months will launch a protest in Taipei tomorrow.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
A number of DPP legislators are expected to take part in the protest, which organizers say could attract several hundred people, as well as members of Chen’s family, including his mother Chen Lee Shen (陳李慎), his son and two sisters.
The rally will begin on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office and then make its way to the legislature, where organizers plan a sit-in.
In a rare media interview yesterday, an emotional 82-year-old Chen Lee Shen said: “[I will] only be happy when [Chen Shui-bian] is able to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ to me in person.”
Several pro-independence organizations have criticized the continued detention of the former president, alleging judicial misconduct after his family last month tried to wire back an estimated NT$700 million (US$21 million) from their Swiss bank accounts in response to prosecution requests.
“Where is the justice? The entire justice system remains biased,” said Huang Shu-chun (黃淑純) of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Despite efforts to return the money, presiding judge Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球) said last month that he believed the former president continued to be a flight risk, comments that have been staunchly denied by Chen Shui-bian’s lawyers.
Also voicing support for the ex-president’s release was the sister of Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), a Carnegie Mellon professor critical of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, who died under suspicious circumstances during a visit to Taiwan in 1981.
“Chen Wen-chen disappeared 29 years ago after being taken by the Taiwan Garrison Command — Chen Lee Shen also lost her son one night,” Chen Pao-yue (陳寶月) said.
“Taiwanese mothers need to stand together,” to prevent such things happening again, she said.
The former president was first detained on Nov. 12, 2008, and 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 remained in detention ever since.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said