Despite the presence of judges, lawyers and dozens of spectators, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) shared a quiet moment with his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), yesterday, the first since early last month.
The emotional get-together took place after both were called to the Taiwan High Court to answer questions in a retrial involving accusations that the former first couple embezzled secret diplomatic funds.
The former first couple appeared uninterested in their arguments in the case, which were read by their lawyers. Instead the two spent most of the court appearance with their heads down, engaged in quiet conversation.
A frail looking Wu, was heard telling the former president that he needed to dress more warmly. Before leaving, she was also seen giving Chen milk caramel candy.
Judges denied a request from the defense to give the couple more time together to discuss their case, part of the many legal proceedings in which the two have been embroiled since Chen stepped down in May 2008.
Wu told judges during the session that she hoped they would call on Chen to appear at court whenever she is also due to make an appearance in the future.
The two are expected to see each other again in the coming month as the court hears their arguments on other charges of bribery in relation to the construction of the Nangang Exhibition Hall and laundering money overseas.
Both Chen and Wu have already been sentenced to 17-and-a-half-year sentences in a separate case involving two other instances of bribery concerning a land transaction in Taoyuan County and helping former Taipei Financial Center Corp chairwoman Diana Chen (陳敏薰) secure a financial appointment.
After being upheld by the Supreme Court in November, the former president began serving his sentence at Taipei Prison on Dec. 2. It is not yet certain when Wu, wheelchair-bound and suffering from ill health, will begin serving her term.
Despite a recent report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine claiming that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told judicial authorities to keep Wu out of prison, Ministry of Justice officials said that procedure would be followed.
“Prosecutors have already received information on Wu’s health from her hospitals and will be making further arrangements with [Taichung Prison],” Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said yesterday.
Yesterday’s proceedings came one day after Chen Shui-bian denied that he encouraged members of his staff, including former office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) and former top aide Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), to falsify evidence, responding to separate accusations from prosecutors.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods