Former Vice President Annette Lu has begun a hunger strike, calling for former President Chen Shui-bian’s release on medical parole.
Chen is currently serving a 20-year prison term for corruption. He is said to be in declining health.
After serving more than six years in prison, Chen applied for medical parole for the first time in June of this year. But the Ministry of Justice rejected his plea. A special medical team is conducting an evaluation of Chen’s health and will make a recommendation about whether he should be granted medical parole. The team called on the public to be rational as it works on the evaluation. It’s set to hold a third meeting on Monday.
Former Vice President Lu visited Chen on Saturday at the prison in Taichung where he is incarcerated. She later showed the media a letter that Chen had written her, asking her not to go on hunger strike. But Lu pledged to go ahead with her plans if Chen was not released by midnight on Saturday night.
Lu presided over a rally and a march on Sunday before beginning her hunger strike in the square in front of the National Taiwan Museum later in the afternoon.