00:00On Friday, supporters of former Taipei mayor and presidential candidate Ke Wenzhe gathered outside the Taipei District Court, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
00:10A judge had just offered to release the Taiwan People's Party founder on bail of roughly 2 million U.S. dollars.
00:17Ke has been held incommunicado for a year on allegations of corruption and embezzlement.
00:30Ke is on trial for corruption and bribery regarding a construction project while he was Taipei mayor, and he was granted bail along with his co-defendant, Ying Xiaowei, a Taipei city councillor.
00:44Ying was able to pay off her $985,000 U.S. dollar bail that afternoon.
00:49But Ke has not yet agreed to the bail offer. His lawyers issued a statement that they would discuss the details on Monday.
00:55At the same time, his party, the TPP, has expressed desire to help, but criticized the bail amount as astronomical.
01:02Ke was released on bail for about a week last December, before prosecutors successfully appealed to keep him in detention.
01:31The same thing could happen again this time.
01:35The TPP and the other main opposition party, the Guo Mingzhang, have called the trial's judicial persecution.
01:40The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which the opposition parties have accused of interfering in the judicial system, says it respects the legal process.
02:01We don't necessarily agree with any evidence of any legal evidence.
02:07But I just want to say that the people of the court, the court court, and the court court court, to prosecute it.
02:13If charged on all counts, Ke could face 28 years in prison.
02:17As the trials continue, it's clear that even when Ke is out of sight, many are watching his case closely and want answers soon.
02:25Chris Ma and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.
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