Taichung Prison on Wednesday night said it would submit petitions tendered by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to attend events to stricter evaluations and require medical reports after Chen allegedly breached provisions of an agreement to attend a fundraiser last week.
Chen, on medical parole amid a 20-year jail sentence for corruption, on Friday last week attended the event in Taipei hosted by the Ketagalan Foundation, which he founded in 2003.
Taichung Prison, where Chen was incarcerated before being released on medical parole in early 2015, approved his application to attend the event with five conditions: He could not enter the main venue, could not go on stage, could not give a speech, could not talk about politics and could not give media interviews.
However, Chen took about 10 minutes to walk to the main table using a cane and said he wanted to thank military personnel, teachers and civil servants, as they are the backbone of national stability and should not be “stigmatized.”
Chen has obviously breached the provisions that he would not enter the fundraising event and would not talk about politics, prison deputy warden Lin Shun-pin (林順斌) said.
Separately, Tseng Te-shui (曾德水), a judge who presided over a trial involving Chen, said that the former president’s health did not seem too poor going by his appearance at the event.
Chen’s physical condition should be checked “at close range” to ascertain whether he is still incapable of standing trial, he said.
The Taiwan High Court is to subpoena Chen this week, with a temporary court date set for the end of next month or early July, Tseng said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) on Wednesday called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to make up her mind whether Chen should be pardoned.
Tsai’s stance on the matter prior to the presidential election in January last year was that “people should not continue to be confrontational over the issue,” Hu said, adding that even within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), such confrontations still exist.
Hu said that worsening relations between former DPP legislator Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) and his son, DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘), over the Chen issue was an example.
Tsai Ing-wen should stop avoiding the issue and consider whether a pardon is necessary, Hu said.
If no decision is made, the president must at least make her stance on the issue clear to offer guidance for Taichung Prison, Hu added.
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