Director of Nantou County's Bureau of Social Affairs, Chen Wan-chen (
Chen said she had requested two-week's leave and would continue to campaign for Peng until he is released.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Peng has been remanded in custody since Nov. 14 on corruption charges. The prosecution suspects that the commissioner of the county worst hit by the devastating 921 earthquake has misappropriated post-quake relief donations and unlawfully manipulated the contracting process for reconstruction projects.
But Chen and other supporters of Peng said, as his detention moved into its 56th day yesterday, that he must be released immediately because no evidence of his alleged corruption has been found.
"The prosecutors are using imprisonment as a means of forcing him to plead guilty," Chen said yesterday morning as she led some 30 followers from Nantou to petition the Control Yuan, asking the state's highest watchdog to investigate whether prosecutors had abused their powers.
Control Yuan member Kang Ning-hsiang (
The group then went to the Ministry of Justice.
The protesters held banners and placards reading "Release Peng Pai-hsien" and "Objection: prosecutors abuse power," slogans which they also chanted, and sat down before the justice ministry building, where Chen made a speech.
Chen said Peng himself had gone on hunger strike in Nantou Detention House on Jan. 2.
The prosecution denied this but the detention house authorities were not available for comment.
"It's been 56 days [since Peng was taken into detention]. The prosecutors have not made any progress in the investigation. They did not find any evidence suggesting that Peng had stolen a cent; they just keep asking Peng the same questions during interrogations," Chen said. "Can two mere unaccounted-for pieces of paper be called evidence?"
The prosecutors earlier had seized as evidence a note that ordered the account books belonging to Peng's foundation be destroyed, as well as another note ordering that higher authorities be sought to intervene into the investigation of the case. The Nantou District Court cited these two findings when ruling that Peng be detained.
But prosecutors have admitted that the notes were not in Peng's handwriting.
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chen told Yen that the ministry should not shirk its responsibility on the matter by continuing to insist it does not intervene in particular cases under investigation.
"The ministry must intervene to do something. There are no legal grounds for Peng's continued detention, while the progress in reconstruction of disaster areas is seriously affected by the absence of the commissioner."
Yen, however, only said he would pass the petition to Chen Ding-nan.
After her protest in Taipei, Chen returned to Nantou in the afternoon and began her hunger strike.
The Nantou divisional head prosecutor, Hsu Sung-kuei (
He said the prosecution had achieved much in the investigation work after Peng's detention, though the detailed findings were not to be made public.
He also said it was the district court, not the prosecution, which had ruled for Peng's detention. "We just petitioned them to do so," he said.
Midnight tonight is the deadline for the prosecution to petition for an extension of Peng's detention for another two months. But Hsu said last night that the prosecution has not yet decided whether to make the request.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS