Taiwan’s jailed ex-president Chen Shui-bian (right) leaves his mother (2nd from left) and son Chen Chih-chung (left) behind as he goes back to jail outside the altar of his mother-in-law in southern Tainan on January 6, 2012. Chen is suffering from “severe” depression and requires psychiatric treatment, a hospital said Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. AFP PHOTO/JOHNSON LIU
TAIPEI—Taiwan’s jailed ex-president Chen Shui-bian is suffering from “severe” depression and requires psychiatric treatment, a hospital said Thursday.
Chen was convicted of bribery in 2009 and is serving a prison term of 17 years and six months, while facing several additional graft charges stemming from his time as president between 2000 and 2008.
The 61-year-old was treated in a hospital near his prison last month after he developed urinal problems and was later transferred to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital for a comprehensive check-up, authorities said.
“Chen is diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety disorder, both of which have become chronic,” the hospital said in a statement without elaborating. It recommended further treatment at a specialized hospital.
Chen has also developed stuttering, which might be linked to mental illness or a degeneration of his brain, as well as problems with his prostate and sleep apnoea – a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal breathing – the hospital said.
The ex-leader sought medical parole earlier this year when he was diagnosed with a narrowing of his coronary arteries, but the justice ministry denied it on the ground that he could get proper treatment in prison.
The ministry has so far only ever granted medical paroles to 22 inmates diagnosed with terminal diseases.
Chen and family members have been accused in a complex network of cases of sending political donations and secret diplomatic funds abroad, laundering millions of US dollars and taking kickbacks on government contracts.
The ex-leader says that the legal action against him is a political vendetta carried out by the Beijing-friendly government in retaliation for his policies promoting Taiwan’s independence while in power.