Appeals Court Issues Summons for Ex-President Chen to Appear in Court on July 7

 Appeals Court Issues Summons for Ex-President Chen to Appear in Court on July 7

Source: China Times

June 1, 2017

Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who is currently on medical parole, violated the conditions laid down by the Taichung Prison while attending a fundraising event hosted by the Ketagalan Foundation on May 19. Subsequently, the Taichung Prison rejected Chen’s request to attend the memorial service for Tsai Yu-chuan (蔡有全), one of Chen’s former national policy advisors who passed away on May 4.

Since Chen could still move around, Judge Tzeng Te-shui (曾德水) of the Taiwan Provincial High Count, the appellate court, who was the trial judge for Chen’s bribery case involving the "Second Financial Reform” program,  opined that Chen might be healthy enough to stand trial. Thus, Tzeng decided to summon Chen to appear in court on July 7 for a hearing. The court would, in turn, evaluate Chen’s fitness to stand trial according to his health condition and decide whether to resume trials of the pending cases against him

Chen was granted medical parole on January 5, 2015, and he immediately petitioned to the appellate court for suspending trials of the cases pending in court.  Based on Chen’s certified diagnosis, the high court separately ruled to suspend the five trials against him. However, the fact that Chen could still move around challenged the Judiciary’s authority and credibility.

Moreover, the Taichung Prison sent a letter to Chen, demanding Chen to self-reflect on his behavior and asking him to get medical attention in another hospital in a bid to make a cross analysis on his illness, based on a decision made by the Ministry of Justice.

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