The family of a man killed in a shooting in which Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) was wounded last month held a funeral service yesterday, attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other politicians who offered the family their condolences.
Huang Yun-sheng (黃運聖) was attending a campaign rally for then-Sinbei councilor candidate Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) of the KMT on Nov. 26, when he was killed in an attack that also wounded Lien.
The bullet first struck Lien in the left cheek and exited near his right temple. The incident, which took place a day before the special municipality elections, sparked heated debates as to whether the shooting was political in nature.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma yesterday attended the funeral service accompanied by Deputy Taipei County Commissioner Lee Shu-chuan (李四川).
He left declining to comment when asked about the ongoing probe into the shooting.
Chen also attended the funeral service, apologizing to the Huang family for the events that unfolded at his campaign rally, but denied having anything to do with the shooting.
“I am really sorry about what happened at the rally ... The case is under investigation, and we are all waiting for the outcome,” he said.
The Banciao District Prosecutors Office launched an investigation into the shooting last month. It said at a news conference on Thursday that the incident was not orchestrated by Lien, son of former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), but has so far failed to produce a motive for the shooting.
Sean Lien, has only made one public appearance since the shooting, when heading to hospital for a check-up earlier this month. He did not attend the funeral service yesterday.
Although Sean Lien has insisted that the suspected shooter, Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) — also known as “Horse Face” (馬面) — called his name when approaching him, Lin has since claimed the shooting was a case of mistaken identity.
At a separate setting yesterday, a group of pro-localization organizations held a joint press conference and demanded the prosecutors handle the investigation with as much transparency as possible.
“Lien’s shooting happened over three weeks ago, and it’s becoming more and more suspicious. The government has not clarified the matter in the public mind, instead, it seems as if it is concealing the truth. We wonder whether there are any political motivations at play here,” Taiwan Society chairman Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民) said.
“Since the public has the right to know what really happened, the government and National Taiwan University Hospital should respond to public suspicion by releasing Lien’s medical record and his X-rays,” he added, asking the government to follow the precedent set by the establishment of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee, following the shooting of former president Chen Shui-bian and form an independent committee to probe Lien’s shooting.
Saying the shooting undermined democracy and had a serious impact on the performance of the Democratic Progressive Party in the Nov. 27 special municipal elections, Wu said pro-localization groups will not stop pushing for the truth to be disclosed as long as it believes the government is being less than forthcoming.
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