Taipei - The Taiwan High Court on Wednesday maintained a
lower court ruling on keeping ex-president Chen Shui-bian, who is
facing graft charges, detained.
The court made the ruling after Chen's lawyer appealed the Taipei
District Court's December 29 decision to put Chen back into custody,
two weeks after he was released from a month-long detention.
'Chen has committed serious crimes including money laundering, and
570 million dollars of his illegally-obtained funds have not been
seized (by the court) yet,' high court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan said.
'Besides, although Chen is assigned bodyguards, he twice moved
around without his bodyguards last year, so there is the danger of
his fleeing Taiwan,' he said.
Therefore the High Court ruled that Chen's appeal was
unreasonable and rejected it, he said.
Chen's lawyer cannot file another appeal, Wen added.
Chen's trial will begin at the Taipei District Court on January 19.
Chen, 57, president from 2000 to May 2008, was detained at the
Taipei Penitentiary on November 12, on a series of corruption
allegations.
On December 12, he was charged with embezzling government funds,
money laundering and taking bribes, but was freed without bail the
next day by the Taipei District Court, triggering a public outcry as
many people feared that Chen could conspire with others to destroy
evidence of his alleged crimes and could intimidate witnesses.
Prosecutors probing Chen's case appealed against his release, and
called on the High Court when the district court first upheld its
ruling. The district court was ordered to review its previous ruling.
The district court ruled on December 29 that Chen should be
re-detained to prevent him from destroying evidence of his crimes and
fleeing abroad.
Prosecutors have called for the 'severest punishment' for Chen,
which is interpreted by legal analysts as asking for a life sentence.
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