Chen transferred back to detention center

Chen was escorted back to the Taipei Penitentiary from the Taipei County Hospital’s Panchiao branch where had been treated since Sunday.

Prosecutors decided to remand him to custody after doctors determined that he had been recovering well, and was already fit to go back to jail.

The prison vehicle went through the back door of the hospital to pick up the ex-president, who was not to be seen publicly during his departure.

But doctors said Chen looked calm and expressed gratitude for the care he had been given when he was told that he would be heading back to jail.

Earlier in the morning Chen had a shave, seemingly an indication that he knew he would be returned to jail soon, the doctors said.

Dr. Yang Chang-bin at the hospital told reporters that Chen’s condition had improved, but “former President Chen is still refusing to eat.”

A spokesman for the prosecution said they will encourage Chen to eat normally.

But the ex-president will continue to refuse food, as he is not afraid of dying, his lawyer Cheng Wen-lung said.

Chen was moved from jail Sunday after refusing to eat since he was taken into custody on Nov. 12 on corruption charges, which he and his supporters claim are an act of political persecution.

The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party yesterday demanded prosecutors release all other suspects in the Chen case, now that the ex-president is already jailed.

Several other people, including Chen’s close aides, had already been detained before prosecutors won a court permission to also have the ex-president locked up.

But the DPP said the other suspects have already spent too much time in custody, during which prosecutors must have already collected sufficient evidence for the case, making it unnecessary to prolong their detention.

The DPP also demanded prosecutors release Chiayi County Magistrate Chen Ming-wen, who has been detained since Oct. 28 in a separate corruption probe.

The DPP claimed that no questioning or hearing has been conducted since then, showing that the prosecutors are abusing their powers by unnecessarily detaining the magistrate.

“If there is evidence, then indict (Magistrate Chen). If not, he must be released,” said the DPP.

The magistrate is also staging a hunger strike to protest what he and his supporters call politically-motivated detention.

The magistrate was taken to the hospital on Monday for treatment. Although his conditions have improved after initial treatment, he has refused to do follow-up check-ups needed to monitor his health, according to the Central News agency (CNA).

Opposition supporters are planning a rally Saturday in Taipei to protest the prosecutors’ recent actions against DPP figures.

In the ex-president’s case, Chen’s family is also being investigated.

Prosecutors yesterday questioned the wheelchair-bound former first lady Wu Shu-chen at her home for a second time in less than a week.

The last questioning had to end after two hours because of Wu’s poor health, and prosecutors this time were trying finish the questions they had been unable to ask, the CNA reported.

Chen’s fate is likely to affect public opinion of the DPP, which backed Chen in office and faces tough local elections next year, experts have been cited by Reuters as saying.

“The longer the Chen Shui-bian case lingers, it will generate more anxiety within the DPP,” Alexander Huang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taipei, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

“I have limited knowledge of whether the case would be a minus or a plus for the 2009 elections.”

Chen has already admitted he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received. He has claimed that the US$21 million found in her daughter-in-law’s Swiss bank account were from the donations.

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