After a 20-month investigation, the March 19 Shooting Incident Special Investigation Commission has concluded that the shooting of Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu on March 19, 2004 was a "fake", said Taiwan media on Thursday.
The team raised doubts about the incident. These points included: two cartridge cases submitted as evidence could not be loaded into one gun; the bullet used as evidence was not made by the suspect who was believed to be the source of the gun; the results of trajectory reconstruction and the position of the bullet shell did not hold up, and the suspected gunman Chen Yi-hsiung was murdered, rather than having committed suicide.
The head of the commission, Wang Ching-feng, said that there were many suspicious points and relevant government organizations were seriously blocking the investigation.
The team said that evidence from the Chen Shui-bian side has "so many lies".
On March 19, 2004, the day before a leadership election, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu claimed that they had been shot at during their campaign in southern Taiwan, sustaining injuries.
At the request of opponents in the election, a special team was set up to investigate the incident.
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)