Ex-president denied release, ordered to remain in jail

No release can be granted in view of the serious crimes Chen was accused of committing, ruled Tsai who together with two judges is trying the ex-head of state, who started his third hunger strike at the Taipei detention center at Tucheng on last Thursday.

Tsai also decided to cancel a hearing he had scheduled for today. President Chen was subpoenaed to be questioned in court this morning.

Chen is charged with forgery, corruption and graft, and money laundering. His wife Wu Shu-chen is also being tried in the court Tsai presides.

Wu was indicted on November 3, 2006, charged with borrowing receipts from friends and relatives to claim a NT$14.8 million reimbursement from a public fund under her husband's control for the conduct of "affairs of state."

President Chen was not indicted along with her, for he was immune to prosecution, but was regarded as an unindicted co-defendant who would be formally charged on leaving office.

Special Counsel prosecutors started investigating Chen after he stepped down as president on May 20 last year. They found the former first couple had taken bribes and laundered at least NT$700 million (US$21 million). Chen was indicted on November 12 last year.

He started his first hunger strike when he was taken under custody on the following day. He was released without bail later, but ordered back to the detention center on last January 25. He began another brief hunger strike after his request for release was rejected on March 25.

President Chen requested his release for the third time Thursday, but was sent back to Tucheng, where he started his current hunger strike, pledging he would continue until May 17 when the Democratic Progressive Party calls a protest rally at the Presidential Plaza.

At Tucheng, Chen vowed never to end the hunger strike until DPP supporters take to the streets to protest against President Ma Ying-jeou's poor governance, when he met his wife, accompanied by his confidant Legislator Lawrence Gao.

After failing to persuade her husband to stop the hunger strike, the former first lady urged him to drink water to sustain himself until May 17.

On Saturday President Chen was taken to the Banqiao Hospital for physical checkups after the hunger strike had weakened him.

Subsequent checkups showed Chen suffered slight dehydration, symptoms of arthritis and glaucoma, arteriosclerosis, and bronchitis, Yang Chang-pin, deputy superintendent of the Banqiao Hospital, told a press conference yesterday afternoon.

The former president, Yang added, has no heart conditions.

Gao quoted President Chen as saying he was "totally disheartened" by the judiciary and would formally dismiss his defense attorneys today.

Actually, this was the reiteration of what Chen wrote in his "last letter" issued through his lawyer on Thursday. He also requested Tsai to sentence him to life in prison, promising not to appeal and to do time for life.

"There's no way I would ever be proven innocent," Gao cited Chen as lamenting. "He was so disheartened that he told me 'Let it go,'" the DPP lawmaker said.

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