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Supporters to gather for Chen’s birthday
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
Former president Chen Shui-bian’s mother, Chen
Lee Shen, left, arrives to visit her son at the Taipei Detention Center in
Taipei County’s Tucheng Township yesterday, ahead of his birthday on Sunday.
Photo: CNA
Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) may be spending his days in a 1.86 ping
(6.15m2) jail cell, but it doesn’t mean that he will have to spend his 60th
birthday alone. His office announced yesterday that supporters from 27
pro--independence groups are expected to gather in front of the Taipei Detention
Center in Tucheng (土城) on Sunday afternoon to help him celebrate the occasion.
A few Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilor candidates, part of
Chen’s “One Side, One Country” Alliance, are also set to demonstrate outside the
detention center in support.
It is unlikely that the ex--president will be able to mingle with his
supporters, who have pledged to use the occasion to increase pressure on the
Supreme Court to strike down his detention one month shy of its two-year
anniversary.
“He’s going to be locked up in jail, but right outside we will have upwards of
1,000 supporters giving him our best wishes,” the ex-president’s office manager
Chen Sung-shan (陳淞山) said.
The former president’s mother, Chen Lee Shen (陳李慎), visited the detention center
yesterday. She left crying and questioning how long she would have to continue
waiting for her son’s release.
“I’m already getting so old … I hope that [he] can leave this place and reunite
with his family,” the 82-year-old said.
She was accompanied by DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬).
The former president also plans to release his latest book, titled The 1.86 Ping
Presidential -Office on Saturday. The contents allegedly include new revelations
about Taipei’s relations with Beijing and Washington during his eight-year term
in office.
Chen Shui-bian has been detained in Tucheng since December 2008 on charges of
corruption. Today will mark the 677th day of his detention, which prosecutors
argue is necessary because the ex-president remains a flight risk.
Adding to his legal troubles, prosecutors have recently accused his office of
failing to hand back 58 boxes of allegedly confidential documents that he
removed from the Presidential Office in May 2008.
Dozens of investigators raided the former president’s current and former offices
on Linyi Street and Guanqian Road in Taipei City on Sept. 15.
Prior to the search, the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) said if the boxes are
found to contain -classified information, it would mean that Chen Shui-bian
breached security protocols and endangered national security.
The information will be revealed this morning after the SIP agreed that some of
the 58 boxes would be opened in front of the former president. Hung Kwei-san
(洪貴參), part of his legal team, and Chen Sung-shan are both expected to be
present.
Chen Shui-bian’s office has called the investigation “a clear example of
political persecution” and said that prosecutors were likely motivated by the
upcoming elections.
The ex-president and his wife have both been found guilty of embezzling state
funds, committing forgery and laundering some of the money through Swiss bank
accounts by a district court last September.
The sentence is still under appeal.
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