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Sunday 13 September 2009
Protesting Chen supporters target judge’s home
The home of the judge who handed down controversial life sentences in the graft case against former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, has become the latest hot spot for protests by Chen’s supporters.
The home of the judge who handed down controversial life sentences in the graft case against former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, has become the latest hot spot for protests by Chen’s supporters.
Judge Tsai Shou-hsun became a household name on the island when he handed down his 1,523-page verdict on the disgraced former first family on Friday.
The verdict has divided the island. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which Chen once led, called the trial flawed, while the ruling Kuomintang hailed the verdict as a milestone in Taiwan’s legal history.
Chen, 58, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after being convicted of embezzling state funds, laundering money and accepting bribes of around NT$900 million (HK$214 million), the court said.
Wheelchair-bound Wu, 57, also received a life sentence. The couple were ordered to pay a combined fine of NT$500 million.
Almost 40 per cent of respondents in a survey conducted by the China Times newspaper agreed with the verdict, while 24 per cent said that the life sentences were too harsh.
Scuffles involving dozens of supporters and opponents of Chen broke out before the District Court hearing in Taipei on Friday. Chen’s backers have now focused their anger on the judge.
More than 30 protesters, led by Yang Chyi-wen, a former leader of the pro-independence Taiwan Society, protested outside Tsai’s home yesterday.
Breaking months of silence, Tsai said he had been under such immense pressure when handling the case that he had to disguise himself before going out in public.
Chen was first detained in November before he was formally charged with corruption. He was freed for two weeks in December until the court appointed Tsai and two other judges to oversee the case.
Local media yesterday quoted officers of the detention centre holding Chen as saying that the former president had appeared calm when he heard about the verdict.
Chen’s supporters are lobbying for him to be bailed pending an appeal. But Professor Chang Ling-chen, a political analyst at National Taiwan University, said their chances of success were slim.
“More than a dozen people are accused of being complicit in the former first family’s corruption and money-laundering cases,” she said. “The judges would worry that Chen would collude with other defendants, or even threaten them, if he is freed.”
Taipei-based political commentator Paul Lin said Chen’s sole hope of freedom would be a pardon in 2011 when President Ma Ying-jeou might want to woo Chen’s supporters ahead of the island’s 2012 presidential election.
“It’s possible for Chen to receive a pardon from Ma in 2011,” he said.
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Protesting Chen supporters target judge’s home
Minnie Chan
13 September 2009
The home of the judge who handed down controversial life sentences in the graft case against former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, has become the latest hot spot for protests by Chen’s supporters.
Judge Tsai Shou-hsun became a household name on the island when he handed down his 1,523-page verdict on the disgraced former first family on Friday.
The verdict has divided the island. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which Chen once led, called the trial flawed, while the ruling Kuomintang hailed the verdict as a milestone in Taiwan’s legal history.
Chen, 58, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after being convicted of embezzling state funds, laundering money and accepting bribes of around NT$900 million (HK$214 million), the court said.
Wheelchair-bound Wu, 57, also received a life sentence. The couple were ordered to pay a combined fine of NT$500 million.
Almost 40 per cent of respondents in a survey conducted by the China Times newspaper agreed with the verdict, while 24 per cent said that the life sentences were too harsh.
Scuffles involving dozens of supporters and opponents of Chen broke out before the District Court hearing in Taipei on Friday. Chen’s backers have now focused their anger on the judge.
More than 30 protesters, led by Yang Chyi-wen, a former leader of the pro-independence Taiwan Society, protested outside Tsai’s home yesterday.
Breaking months of silence, Tsai said he had been under such immense pressure when handling the case that he had to disguise himself before going out in public.
Chen was first detained in November before he was formally charged with corruption. He was freed for two weeks in December until the court appointed Tsai and two other judges to oversee the case.
Local media yesterday quoted officers of the detention centre holding Chen as saying that the former president had appeared calm when he heard about the verdict.
Chen’s supporters are lobbying for him to be bailed pending an appeal. But Professor Chang Ling-chen, a political analyst at National Taiwan University, said their chances of success were slim.
“More than a dozen people are accused of being complicit in the former first family’s corruption and money-laundering cases,” she said. “The judges would worry that Chen would collude with other defendants, or even threaten them, if he is freed.”
Taipei-based political commentator Paul Lin said Chen’s sole hope of freedom would be a pardon in 2011 when President Ma Ying-jeou might want to woo Chen’s supporters ahead of the island’s 2012 presidential election.
“It’s possible for Chen to receive a pardon from Ma in 2011,” he said.
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