Chen returned to jail after judges reject bail request
Disgraced former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian's hopes of being released on bail were dashed again yesterday when the Taiwan High Court decided to continue to hold him for three more months.
After a hearing lasting more than four hours, a panel of three judges ordered that Chen, who was convicted of corruption by the Taipei District Court, be returned to jail, despite protests by dozens of his supporters.
'Defendant Chen has been convicted of six criminal counts and sentenced to life imprisonment by the district court,' High Court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan said.
Wen cited previous rulings by the High Court, which had denied bail for defendants sentenced to life in prison by the lower courts based on the possibility they would flee because of the sentences.
He said the detention was necessary to facilitate further investigation into other alleged corruption cases in which Chen was implicated.
It was the first hearing by the High Court on Chen's detention case, held shortly after the court's administration had chosen three judges by lottery to handle his appeal.
Shouting 'unfair', 'freedom' and 'release Chen Shui-bian', angry supporters hurled eggs and bottled water at the court building and confronted court police.
Chen was hopeful, especially when two of the High Court judges were known to have advocated human rights for defendants.
In what Taiwanese media described as a crazy approach to win US attention over his detention, he filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against US President Barack Obama for failing to uphold US jurisdiction over Taiwan and permitting a 'government in exile' in Taiwan to illegally issue court rulings on the island.
Calling Taiwan a territory still controlled by the US following Japan's surrender in the second world war, he said the US must deal with all legal affairs in Taiwan, and said there was a 'mysterious force' from the US since he became president and that he had to execute some orders given by the United States.
Early in the hearing, Chen even offered to accept house arrest, confiscation of his passport and monitoring by electronic device in exchange for his freedom, only to be told he should list these proposals in his next bail request.
Chen - sentenced to life imprisonment along with his wife, Wu Shu-chen, for corruption by the district court on September 11 - has been kept at the Taipei Detention Centre since December 30.
Bringing with him stacks of documents marked with handwritten notes made by himself, Chen said he had merely been following the example of his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui.
'Why was I so wretched?' he said. 'I merely followed the practice of my predecessor, who was spending special state funds exactly the same way as I did.'
He said it was totally unfair for the Taipei District Court to find him guilty of corruption, citing what he claimed absurd reasons.
'Does that mean if I wiped my rear in the toilet in the Presidential Office, I was considered corrupt because I didn't bring my own wet tissues but used the tissues in the toilet instead?'
