Sunday 15 November 2009

New mystery in Chen shooting

Taiwanese investigators looking into the 2004 shooting of the island’s former president Chen Shui-bian said yesterday they had found no blood or bullet hole in his trousers, adding mystery to an incident that may have won him a second term.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

New mystery in Chen shooting

Agence France Presse in Taipei
13 November 2009

Taiwanese investigators looking into the 2004 shooting of the island’s former president Chen Shui-bian said yesterday they had found no blood or bullet hole in his trousers, adding mystery to an incident that may have won him a second term.

Chen, who is now facing life in jail for corruption, suffered a slight stomach injury in the apparent assassination attempt less than 24 hours before an election, with critics saying it triggered a crucial sympathy vote.

“Chen was wounded in the abdomen, but why were there no bloodstains or bullet hole on his underwear and pants?” said Wu Feng-shan, a member of the team that reopened the investigation, the ETTV news channel reported. The investigation was initiated by the Control Yuan, a branch of the government in charge of supervising other branches.

After the incident on March 19, 2004, Chen went on to win the vote by a 0.22 per cent margin, giving him a second four-year term. The Kuomintang, which fielded the candidate defeated by Chen, accused him of staging the shooting to garner voters’ support - an allegation he rejected.

Chen’s running-mate, Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, was also slightly injured during the mysterious shooting, which took place as they were campaigning in an open-topped car in the southern city of Tainan. Police concluded that a jobless man, Chen Yi-hsiung, had shot the pair.

Ten days after the shooting, Chen Yi-hsiung was found dead in a fish pond near Tainan. Police said he killed himself out of remorse, a finding rejected by the Kuomintang.

The drama took a new twist in 2006 when the alleged gunman’s widow - who previously confessed to her husband’s role in the shooting - said she had been coerced by police.

Chen, who left office in May last year, has been sentenced to life in jail on charges of embezzlement, taking bribes, money laundering, influence peddling and extortion. He is appealing against the sentence.