Ex-president Chen's parole gets another 3-month extension
2015/08/03 18:58:58
CNA file photo
Taipei, Aug. 4 (CNA) Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who has been on medical parole since early January, has had his parole extended for three more months, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.
Chen, who is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption during his two terms as president, will be allowed to continue to receive medical treatment outside prison after his second parole expires Aug. 4, the ministry's Agency of Corrections said.
Taichung Prison has sent officials to visit Chen regularly since his release from the prison Jan. 5.
With the approach of the second parole expiration date, the prison sent officials to visit Chen at his home in Kaohsiung July 27.
The prison, based on his treatment and medical records, sent a report to the agency for it to rule on whether to grant a further parole extension.
The agency said that it granted the request for the parole extension on the grounds that Chen cannot get proper medical treatment in prison and that the complications of his illness are difficult to control, putting him at risk of death at any moment.
Monday's extension was Chen's third. He received a second three-month extension in early May as doctors felt he needed to be treated for a variety of ailments outside of prison for a longer period of time.
(By Liao Jen-kai and Lilian Wu)
