Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will now be identified by his personal identification number, 1020, as he began serving his prison sentence at Taipei Prison on Thursday after being convicted on corruption charges.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) visited Chen Shui-bian yesterday morning and said she was shocked when to see the former president with his head shaved in accordance with prison regulations for inmates.
Chen Shui-bian was more calm than her, Chen Ting-fei said, saying that he was the one who comforted her, noting that prior to his transfer to the prison in Gueishan Township (龜山), Taoyuan County, Chen Shui-bian had been detained for about 700 days at the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng City (土城), Taipei County, so he had actually just changed location.
Photo: Chou Min-hong, Taipei Times
“It’s all about politics, not justice,” Chen Ting-fei quoted Chen Shui-bian as saying.
Local media reported that when asked by a prison officer about his past experience — a routine question for the purpose of arranging suitable work for inmates — Chen Shui-bian replied, “I have served as president” and said his field of expertise was “administration.”
Chen Shui-bian appeared calm during his first day in prison and ate all the food he was served for his first dinner there, according to a prison officer. The meal consisted of rice, stewed ribs with herbs, fried dwarf beans, tofu miso soup and a coconut tart.
It was arranged that he would share a 1.2 ping (3.96m2) cell with another inmate. Prison officials said the former president’s cellmate was convicted of fraud and has a mild temperament and no political inclinations.
The officials promised that the man “will not lose his temper” even if Chen Shui-bian annoys him every day.
According to sources familiar with prison affairs, the man was carefully selected to help take care of the former president and help him quickly adapt to prison life.
A senior judge said Chen Shui-bian’s time in prison would probably amount to 17 years. This was calculated based on a 10 percent reduction of his total 19-year sentence for accepting bribes in the Longtan (龍潭) land deal and the appointment of a chairman at Taipei Financial Center Corp. The time he spent at the Taipei Detention Center could also be counted toward the sentences.
Chen Shui-bian’s wheelchair-bound wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), who was also sentenced to a combined 19 years in the same cases, will likely be ordered next week to report to prosecutors in preparation for imprisonment.
In an interview with ERA News, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said that Thursday marked the most embarrassing and miserable point in Chen Shui-bian’s life.
She said that the former president’s imprisonment was a tragedy for him, his family and Taiwan’s democracy. She also argued that even if Chen Shui-bian were at fault, he should not have been made to take all the blame.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique