|
Chen Shui-bian pleads innocent again
at appeal
By Rich Chang / Staff reporter, with CNA
Former president Chen Shui-bian
enters the Taiwan High Court in Taipei for a hearing yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made
his first court appearance yesterday since reports emerged on Tuesday that he
has attempted suicide three times since first being taken into custody in late
2008.
Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence on corruption charges,
arrived at the Taiwan High Court to the cheers of around 20 of his supporters.
He looked tired and ill.
Chen was there to appeal a district court decision that found him guilty of
pressuring his close aide Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) to give false testimony to
investigators looking into irregularities in his administration of special state
affairs funds during his tenure as president between 2000 and 2008.
During the hearing, the former president reiterated his innocence and made his
statements standing up, even though the judges gave him the option to sit down.
“I did not direct anyone to provide false testimony,” Chen said.
Saying that he had been wrongfully accused by prosecutors whose sole purpose was
to humiliate him, Chen expressed the hope that the court would re-examine the
case in detail and prove his innocence.
“It has not been easy for me to stay alive until today,” Chen said at the end of
the hearing, adding that anyone who had been subjected to the humiliation he
experienced would have thought about death.
The court is scheduled to make a ruling on the case on Aug. 17.
Before the hearing, Chen’s lawyer, Shih Yi-lin (石宜琳), told the press that Chen
has been talking off-topic and showing signs of anxiety lately. Shih asked the
judges to finish the hearing by noon because a psychiatrist was scheduled to
visit Chen later that day.
According to the Ministry of Justice, a doctor from the psychiatry department at
Chang Gung Hospital in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Linkou District (林口) visited the
Taipei Prison yesterday afternoon to check Chen’s health.
|
