Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/07
By: Chao Li-yen and Kuo Chung-han
Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Taichung Prison authorities said Friday they need more information to decide if it
CNA file photo
is appropriate to allow former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to attend the celebration of the Republic of China’s National Day in Taipei on Oct. 10.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), Chen’s son, said he submitted an application to Taichung Prison on Thursday to allow his father to make the trip after receiving an invitation to the National Day ceremony from the National Day Celebration Organizing Committee.
The former president has been on medical parole since January 2015 while serving a 20-year prison term for multiple convictions on corruption charges.
After a meeting on Friday afternoon, Taichung Prison said it needed more information from the celebration’s organizing committee to evaluate Chen’s application, because Chen’s medical team was not clear about the ceremony’s venue, its facilities and equipment and whether it will be a safe medical environment.
The prison said it will hold another meeting to consider the issue on Saturday or Sunday.
The junior Chen, who lives with his parents in Kaohsiung, said his mother Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) is not likely to attend the ceremony, since she has been not well recently.
