Wu Shu-jen Requests Speedier Trial, Suspended Sentences for Children

Wu Shu-jen Requests Speedier Trial, Suspended Sentences for Children

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

November 24, 2009

This afternoon, the Taiwan Provincial High Court, the appellate court, held a court hearing in the appeal trial of the perjury case involving former First Lady Wu Shu-jen, her children Chen Chih-chung and Chen Hsin-yu, and her son-in-law Chao Chien-ming. According to media reports, Wu had earlier petitioned the Court to speed up the trial proceedings and suspend her children’s sentences. Wu also authorized her attorneys to file an interlocutory appeal with the appellate court and the Supreme Court, objecting to the decision of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) under the Prosecutor General’s Office to attach the Chen family’s assets in Taiwan. The SIU was preparing depositions to defend its decision in courts as well.

After the SIU attached the Chen family’s assets in Taiwan, Wu on November 6 denounced the SIU prosecutors in Court, claiming that the attachment of her family’s assets had forced her to live a life not worth living. After the last hearing, Wu had even instructed her attorneys to file an interlocutory appeal, stressing that all the attached assets in Taiwan had been legally obtained. The media reports said that attorneys had already submitted Wu’s interlocutory appeal to the appellate court and the Supreme Court, respectively, expressing the hope that the Chen family’s attached and frozen assets in Taiwan be released.

Wu Shu-jen also requested that the Court enter into final proceedings in the perjury trial, a move tantamount to asking that the Court allow closing arguments today. The media concluded that Wu and her children would not deny the relevant facts or evidence, but instead ask the judges to reduce their sentences or even suspend their sentences on grounds that none of them had prior criminal records.

The court of first instance had given Chen Chih-chung, Chen Hsin-yu and Chao Chien-ming sentences of six months in their perjury cases. Though they are not allowed to pay fines in lieu of sentences, they can choose to render community service instead of serving their terms. However, they apparently still hope to receive more lenient or even suspended sentences. Wu has been given a one-year sentence for goading her children into giving false testimony; she also hopes to receive a more lenient or even suspended sentence.

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