KMT plotting Chiu Yi amnesty: DPP

COMMUTATION BILL： DPP legislators charged that the KMT's proposal to extend amnesty to cover prisoners serving sentences of up to 18 months favored Chiu Yi

By Loa Iok-sin  /  STAFF REPORTER

Sat, May 26, 2007 - Page 3

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of proposing changes to a draft commutation bill that were tailored to benefit a KMT legislator in prison.

In a draft bill submitted by the Cabinet, prisoners serving sentences of up to one year may qualify for an amnesty.

The KMT on Thursday said the cut off point should be extended to include prisoners serving up to 18 months.

"It's clear that the KMT has changed its stance from against the bill to for it, only to help [KMT Legislator] Chiu Yi [邱毅]," DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said at a press conference.

Chiu is serving a prison sentence for violent acts during a protest in Kaohsiung following the 2004 presidential election. Chiu was sentenced to 14 months in prison and started his prison term last month.

Acting on President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) directive, the Cabinet drafted the commutation statute to mark the 20th anniversary of the lifting of martial law and the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident, a civilian uprising against the then-KMT government that led to a bloody massacre.

"The KMT was originally opposed [to the draft bill] ... However, during a cross-party negotiation session yesterday [Thursday], the KMT decided to accept the bill all of a sudden" and suggested changes to the draft, Lai said.

Lai then showed the minutes of a meeting that he said was a closed-door KMT meeting held on Wednesday.

"[We] agree to allow commutation to prisoners serving jail time of up to one year and six months, so that Chiu Yi can be a beneficiary. However, Chiu Yi's name should not be directly mentioned," the meeting log read.

KMT spokesperson Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) rebutted the accusation yesterday and said that such a meeting had not taken place.