Taipei - A Taiwan court Tuesday rejected a request by scandal-plagued former president Chen Shui-bian to be released from detention, saying he was not ill enough to qualify for medical bail. "His physical discomforts, including footache and arteriosclerosis, are not serious enough to qualify him for medical treatment outside the detention centre, and therefore his request for medical bail was turned down," the Taiwan High Court said in a statement.
Chen had also petitioned to be released on the grounds that he was unjustly detained but the court also dismissed this request.
Chen and his wife were charged with embezzling 2.97 million US dollars in state funds, accepting 14 million US dollars in bribes, money laundering, influence peddling, extortion and document forgery during his presidency.
He has been held at the Taipei Detention Centre since December 30 on charges of corruption.
Under Taiwanese law, a court can hold a defendant for a maximum of two months, but for those involving serious crimes, the court can continue to hold a defendant without limit after the two-month period expires.
Chen's current period of detention was to expire on July 25, but Taipei District Court decided last Monday to continue to hold him on concerns that he might flee, destroy evidence, collude with other defendants to fabricate testimony and use his influence to try to pressure the judicial authorities.
This prompted Chen to appeal to the High Court against the district court's ruling, citing poor health and illegal detention.
Chen has requested the court to lift the detention order each time his two-month detention period was due to expire. But prosecutors insisted that he should be held during the investigations.
If convicted, he could face life imprisonment, court officials said.
