Former TPP leader Ko Wen-je leaves prison to attend father's funeral

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) leader Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is currently detained on corruption charges, was allowed to leave prison Monday to attend the funeral of his father in Hsinchu.

Ko, 65, departed the Taipei Detention Center at 7:10 a.m. in the company of eight Agency of Corrections officials and was taken by van to the Hsinchu City Mortuary, where a private memorial service was held at 9 a.m.

During the service, Ko delivered a eulogy in which he apologized to his father for not being with him when he died, calling it a "regret of a lifetime."

He asked his father not to worry for him, saying his current [legal] issues would pass and that he would "again see the light of day."

At around 10:15 a.m., Ko emerged from the memorial service and boarded the van back to Taipei, while his wife Chen Pei-chi (陳佩琪) shouted that "politics is influencing the courts; the courts are harming human rights."

The founder and former leader of Taiwan's third-biggest political party, Ko has been held in incommunicado criminal detention since early January following his indictment in December for bribery, embezzlement and breach of public trust offenses dating back to his second term as mayor of Taipei from 2018 to 2022 and around the 2024 presidential election.

Ko's father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), died aged 92 on Feb. 17. Ko's father had been critically ill and was hospitalized at National Taiwan University Hospital's Hsinchu branch in the weeks prior to his passing.

Following his father's death, a Taipei court ruled on Feb. 27 that Ko would be allowed contact with family members until March 10 on compassionate grounds.

On March 7, the Taipei Detention Center said it had also approved a request allowing Ko to attend his father's funeral.

A public memorial service, which started at 10:20 a.m., was attended by figures from across Taiwan’s political spectrum, including Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Kuomintang (KMT), KMT legislative caucus convener Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and TPP Secretary-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修).

Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the DPP and former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT also attended the public memorial service.

Vicky Chen (陳智菡), a TPP official, confirmed to reporters news reports that the Presidential Office had originally planned to send a representative to the funeral, but was asked not to by Ko’s family.