DPP Legislator Wang Hsing-nan (
On Sunday, Chen Yi-hsiung's widow and family members demanded a new investigation be opened into the March 19, 2004 attempt to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (
"The 319 case was cracked but the pan-blue camp still refuses to accept the result of the investigation," Wang said. "If the KMT doesn't believe the result, it can launch a revolution. But it doesn't dare to do so. Therefore, it colluded with Chen Yi-hsiung's family to mess up Taiwan. I despise the pan-blue camp."
Wang denounced the dead man's family, saying they had burned his suicide note a year ago yet were now demanding that the judgement on him be reversed, calling their action shameful and unbearable.
Chen Yi-hsiung's family previously said that he carried out the shooting because he was depressed about being unemployed and blamed the president's policies.
"Chen Yi-hsiung's family is so shameless. I will take some people to Chen's place to protest," Wang said emotionally.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) caucuses asked the DPP caucus to refer Wang to the legislature's Discipline Committee to be punished for his "inappropriate" words.
"We are strongly opposed to what has Wang said. The questions raised by Chen Yi-hsiung's family members are all within the scope of freedom of speech and human rights," KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
DPP caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (
But Chen Chin-jun also said that the 319 shooting incident is not supposed to be a political tool and that Chen Yi-hsiung's family should resolve their questions using legal procedures.
Meanwhile, accusations by Chen Yi-hsiung's family members that they were coerced into making statements that implicated him as the 319 shooter prompted pan-blue camp legislative caucuses to hasten the amendment of the "March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute."
The Council of Grand Justices ruled on Dec. 15, 2004 that the statute and the affiliated "March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Committee" were unconstitutional.
"[The 319 incident] has to be re-investigated and we will form a second-term committee in the legislature as soon as the amendment to the statute is finished," KMT caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (
Following the grand justices' interpretation, the KMT caucus proposed an amendment to revise the unconstitutional articles.
According to the legislature's regulations, the amendment has to be dealt with before March 22.
PFP caucus whip Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the legislature should re-establish the committee immediately.
However, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Mark Chen (陳唐山) told DPP lawmakers in a meeting yesterday that forming another investigation committee in the legislature would only create more chaos.
Meanwhile, judicial authorities said yesterday that they may launch a new investigation into the shooting.
Former deputy justice minister Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定), who was recently appointed public prosecutor general by the president, said he would order a new ad hoc group be set up to look into the case.
Hsieh promised to "let prosecutors investigate the case freely" once his own appointment was approved by the legislature.
Vice President Annette Lu (
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