Henry Lee (李昌鈺), a US-based forensic scientist, said on Monday that the shooting of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on the eve of the presidential election in 2004 was a minor case, but it created a lot of pressure.
The shooting on March 19, 2004, in which Chen’s abdomen was wounded, was a minor case compared with others he had dealt with, such as war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and a review of former US president John Kennedy’s assassination, Lee said at a press conference in Los Angeles on the eighth anniversary of the “319 Incident.”
However, Lee said he faced great pressure, which was mostly unnecessary, in the Chen case because of its political implications.
Photo: CNA
Lee was asked to assist in the investigation of the incident, in which a bullet grazed Chen’s abdomen and another slightly injured then-vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) at a presidential election campaign motorcade in Tainan.
In a report submitted in August 2004, Lee concluded that the shooting was not a planned assassination attempt, in which case “a more powerful weapon than a homemade pistol would have been used.”
Some pundits said the incident helped Chen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gain sympathy votes that earned him a razor-thin victory over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, Lien Chan (連戰).
On Monday, Lee gave a Power-Point presentation that detailed aspects of the shooting, such as the bullets used, their trajectory and the type of gun from which they were shot.
As a forensic expert, Lee said, his work is to review all available evidence and reach a conclusion.
He said the bullets that wounded Chen and Lu came from the same gun, which was traced to the man who made it, Tang Shou-yi (唐守義).
It was last used by Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who died under suspicious circumstances, Lee said.
Chen Yi-hsiung’s body was found in a pond on March 28, 2004. Lee said the body was cremated almost immediately after death, so it could not be determined whether Chen Yi-hsiung had died in the water.
The shooting case was officially closed after investigators concluded that Chen Yi-hsiung had acted alone.
Last week, Lu called on the government to reopen the case, and the DPP legislative caucus on Monday proposed setting up a special review committee to re-examine the incident.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face