The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over a travel ban imposed on him by the Tainan District Court after Lee was released from detention over alleged vote-buying in last year’s Tainan City Council speakership election.
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office charged Lee with violating the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and took him into custody in February, and he was released on NT$15 million (US$479,908) bail with a travel ban and limitation on his residence by the district court in April.
Lee said he had been to China on several business trips since he was elected speaker, so the authority should have no fear of him absconding.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
He said that although he has not been found guilty of the charges, the travel ban has remained in place, making him unable to exercise his speakership or head the council’s official trips overseas.
He said the ruling has tarnished his reputation and disgraced the council and the city, so he appealed the imposition of travel ban to the Tainan branch of the Taiwan High Court.
The High Court upheld the district court’s ruling, saying that there are few judicial and extradition agreements between Taiwan and other countries, and the travel ban could prevent Lee from absconding.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
The High Court’s verdict said that the ban is necessary to prevent Lee from escaping to China, because he has rich political resources and a strong network of friends at home and abroad.
Lee appealed the High Court’s ruling, but his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Tainan City Council convened a regular plenary session yesterday, but Lee adjourned it in the absence of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, which has been boycotting the session on Tainan Mayor William Lai’s (賴清德) initiative after Lee was indicted.
However, a number of DPP city councilors appeared at the council chamber at about 11am, clashing with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) city councilors.
KMT City Councilor Tsai Yu-hui (蔡育輝) filed a lawsuit alleging physical assault against DPP Tainan City Councilor Kou Ching-hua (郭清華) after the scuffle.
Amid the commotion among councilors, Lee announced the opening of the session, against which the DPP city councilors protested, saying that Lee was illegally commencing the session.
The DPP city councilors left the chamber and demanded a headcount, while the KMT caucus said it would not have a meeting without Lai and Tainan government officials in attendance. Lee halted the meeting until the afternoon.
DPP councilors occupied the rostrum after Lee stepped up to it in the afternoon, saying that the quorum had not been reached and demanding the meeting be adjourned. The move was countered by the KMT councilors, who swarmed around the DPP councilors to regain the rostrum.
Lee subsequently dismissed the meeting amid chaos.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching