| Taiwan's former president testified Monday that he was blameless in a libel case brought against him, but first had to pass angry opponents shouting at him outside the courthouse and a man who reportedly kicked him in the rear end. Chen Shui-bian entered the Taipei District Court building as police barred dozens of supporters and opponents from approaching him. But CTI Cable News reported that an elderly man managed to kick the former president before being taken away by two policemen. Although Chen left the presidency in May, many Taiwan still revile him for alleged corruption and pro-independence policies. Chen's Democratic Progressive Party lost the presidential election to the Nationalist Party's Ma Ying-jeou. The libel suit was filed by retired Nationalist Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming, who is demanding $66 million in compensation. Chen told reporters in 2005 that Lei and several other officials together took $20 million in bribes in a US$2.7 billion deal to buy six French-made frigates. The deal turned into a scandal in 1993 following the death of a Taiwanese navy captain who was widely believed to have been killed because he was about to blow the whistle on colleagues who allegedly took kickbacks. |
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