TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was taken from his jail cell to a hospital today after a five-day hunger strike when a doctor found an irregular heartbeat, a prison official said.
A prison doctor recommended Chen’s hospitalization after examining him, said Lee Ta-chu, an official at Tucheng Jail where Chen had been held since last Wednesday for investigation on graft allegations.
Chen “is having difficulty breathing and is complaining of pain on the left side of his chest,” Lee told The Associated Press. The former president was conscious when taken to the hospital, Lee said.
Earlier Sunday, Chen rejected repeated pleas to end the hunger strike he launched to protest what he called his politically motivated arrest. He spent time reading legal documents about his case in solitary confinement, Lee said.
Prosecutors say they have enough evidence to hold him as they prepare a formal indictment and have denied any government interference in the case.
Chen, an ardent supporter of Taiwan’s formal independence from rival China, has denied any wrongdoing and said he is being persecuted by his successor, President Ma Ying-jeou.
Since his arrest, dozens of Chen supporters have protested daily outside the prison, backing his claim of innocence and demanding his release. He has not been formally indicted, but in line with Taiwanese law, he can be held in jail for up to four months while officials pursue his case.
The corruption probe began soon after Chen finished eight years in office in May, forcing him to withdraw from his Democratic Progressive Party in disgrace.
But he appears to have won new support as the pro-independence party has used his arrest to step up its criticism of the ruling Nationalists’ policy of greater engagement with China and their alleged persecution of former officials in Chen’s administration.
In August, Chen admitted he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, after a Nationalist lawmaker alleged that Chen’s son and daughter-in-law moved $21 million to Switzerland in 2007.
At the time, prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were donations left over from political campaigns, as Chen insisted, or whether bribery may have been involved.
