By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to reopen the investigation into the shooting of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in 2004.
The appeal by the DPP caucus came after Chen and Lu made the same demands last week.
The March 19, 2004, shooting, also known as the 319 Incident, took place on election-eve, with Chen and Lu being re-elected.
A bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and left a 13cm wound, while another bullet hit Lu in the knee. The authorities later identified the shooter as Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead 10 days after the incident.
However, Lu, Chen and the DPP say there are many aspects of the case that remained unanswered or questionable.
The DPP caucus is proposing the establishment of a “319 shooting document request committee” under the legislature as part of its effort to have the case reopened, DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a press conference.
Ma has failed to fulfill his pledge during the 2008 presidential campaign that he would reopen the investigation into the incident, Pan said
Pan-blue legislators called for continued investigation of the case, since they believed the shooting was self-inflicted to benefit Chen’s re-election campaign, Pan added, but three prosecutors-general failed to probe the incident.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), who witnessed the incident, said the government’s handling of “the highly sensitive case with huge political impact” has been “sloppy” and unacceptable.
The Control Yuan also said in its report in November 2009 that an investigation by the Tainan Prosecutors’ Office was “flawed,” she said.
Lu raised several points of suspicion in the case in a press conference on Thursday and asked Ma to reopen the probe. Chen Shui-bian, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year jail term for corruption, also wrote to Ma earlier this month and asked for a new investigation.
The DPP caucus said it would also propose establishing a similar committee on the so-called “1126 shooting incident,” which occurred on Nov. 26, 2010, on the eve of the special municipalities elections.
Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), was allegedly shot in the face by Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) during a campaign activity in then-Taipei County, now New Taipei City (新北市).
Authorities closed the case saying there was no political motive behind the shooting despite the pan-green camp saying the incident was suspicious and that it had greatly benefited the KMT campaigns.