Three Taiwan high court judges met at short notice Thursday (October 8) to rule on whether former president Chen Shui-bian, sentenced to life in prison for corruption, should be released on bail.

Presiding judge Teng Chen-chiu began a hearing on Chen's appeal to end his three-month detention at 6:15pm, after the Supreme Court accepted and remanded it to the court of appeals.

As of press time, the hearing continued.

Chen was taken from the detention centre at Tucheng to the Taipei courthouse, where he met dozens of “Redshirt” protesters who demanded he be put behind bars for as long as the court wants. The protesters were remnants of those who wore red shirts and took to the streets to demand Chen's resignation in 2006. The former president was ordered to be placed under custody on September 24, when his third detention term expired. Along with his wife, Chen was convicted of corruption and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Supporters, far outnumbering the protesters, unfurled banners calling for Chen's immediate release. They had a brief skirmish with police guards at the courthouse next door to the Office of the President.

In remanding the case, the Supreme Court refuted Teng and his two assistant charges who ruled the detention was necessary on the grounds that Chen was given a life sentence, familiar with an escape route out of the country and in possession of a cache of dirty money abroad.

"A life sentence, though severe, is not cause enough for one to escape the country," the Supreme Court ruled.

Though he served as president for eight years, the Supreme Court continued, Chen cannot be considered familiar with an escape route abroad.

Moreover, the Supreme Court said, the stash of cash abroad is not necessarily the money Chen was accused of laundering.

Chen appeared in court without handcuffs. Dressed in a suit, Chen walked into court smiling. He looked confident that he would be released on bail. One of his strongest supporters, Huang Ching-lin, said outside the courthouse he is raising enough cash to bail the former president out.

"We'll gather together more than enough cash," said Huang, director of the Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei City chapter.

He and his supporters did not clash with the Redshirts, who marched with Shih Ming-teh, former DPP chairman, in October 2006 demanding Chen step down as president to take responsibility for a spate of scandals involving himself, his wife and his close aides.

Along with two defendants, President Chen was indicted for misappropriating a fund for secret diplomacy on September 21. He was charged with pocketing US$330,000 in petty cash in 11 diplomatic sallies in the eight years he served as president.

The other two defendants were involved in misappropriating US$500,000, which was said to be have been given to a World Trade Organisation secretary-general.

Chiou I-jen, former secretary-general of the National Security Council, was accused of pocketing the money with the help of Michael Kao, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs.

At least part of the money went to Chen, prosecutors of the Special Counsel said.

The misappropriation case is independent of the corruption for which President Chen and his wife Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in jail.

Taipei district judge Tsai Shou-hsun tried the corruption case for more than four years. The former first lady, first indicted for corruption on November 3, 2006, refused to appear in court for three years until her husband retired as president. She was charged with borrowing receipts from friends and relatives to claim reimbursements topping NT$100 million from a public fund under her husband's control for the conduct of "affairs of state".

The Special Counsel began a new investigation after Chen bowed out on May 20 last year. The probe led to an indictment in September last year. He has remained under custody since December 30 last year.

Prosecutors are afraid Chen may try to seek political asylum in a foreign embassy in Taipei. He claimed last week that he ruled Taiwan for eight years as "an agent" of the US military government.

He is suing President Barack Obama and defence secretary Robert Gates for failure to continue placing Taiwan under US military occupation. A US appeals court has dismissed a petition by former president to be released from prison on the island.