Trial of 2 in Murder of Liu Lasts Only 4 Hours

The long-awaited trial of two gangsters accused of killing Chinese-American journalist Henry Liu ended after less than 4 1/2 hours of testimony Tuesday, prompting charges by a legal representative of Liu’s widow that the Taiwan government was acting as if it had “something to hide.”

Three Taiwan military intelligence officials implicated in the case did not appear at the trial, and the widow’s representative, Jerome Cohen, a former Harvard Law School professor, was barred from participating in the proceedings.

On trial were Chen Chi-li, 41, the reputed leader of the United Bamboo gang, who is charged with organizing the killing, and his associate Wu Tun, 35, who is charged with shooting Liu. The three-judge panel said it will announce its verdict April 9. If convicted, sentencing of the two would be the same day.

The two gangsters based their defense on the argument that they acted on the orders of Wang Hsi-ling, former director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, in performing what they believed to be the patriotic act of punishing a traitor.

Wang and two subordinates, Chen Hu-men, 41, and Hu Yi-min, 58, were indicted last week in the murder. Their military trial will begin Thursday.

Liu, a naturalized American, wrote articles in the Chinese language press that often were critical of Taiwan’s government. He was shot to death last Oct. 15 in the garage of his home in Daly City, in the San Francisco area. His widow, Helen Liu, has charged that he was the victim of a political assassination directed from Taiwan in retaliation for his writings. Some members of Congress have made similar charges.

Sensitive to the strain the incident has placed on U.S.-Taiwan relations, Taiwanese authorities have portrayed the trials of the gang members and intelligence officials as proof that the government is determined to bring the facts of the case to light and punish any offenders.

“Our government position in this matter is very clear from the very beginning,” Albert Ching-hsiu Lin, a government spokesman, told a reporter before the trial. “We took the initiative to inform the U.S. side of Chen Chi-li’s involvement in this case and our attitude to have an open, fair trial in this case and to bring justice to this case has been firmly announced. No matter who is involved in the case, no matter what rank, the government’s determination to clarify the whole matter is unquestionable.”

Widow’s Representative

However, Cohen, former director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard, who is here as Helen Liu’s representative, charged Tuesday that the government’s actions have been more indicative of a cover-up.

“They are behaving as though they have something to hide,” Cohen said after the conclusion of the trial. “What are they afraid of”?

Cohen said that in the interest of good relations with the United States, Taiwan authorities should have held an open trial, with all key witnesses present and participation by representatives of the victim.

Cohen initiated the filing Monday of a civil damage suit against the defendants in an attempt to win the right for himself and two Taiwan attorneys to speak at the trial and to call and question witnesses.

However, Cheng Chun-chia, chief judge of the three-man panel hearing the case, said he could not grant the request, because he had no official word from the Coordination Council for North American Affairs--Taiwan’s quasi-official diplomatic office in the United States--that Cohen and the two local attorneys in fact represented Helen Liu.

Explanation Dismissed

Cohen dismissed the judge’s explanation as a pretext and said he was not informed of any such requirement until Tuesday morning.

Judge Cheng has told local reporters that he decided it was not necessary to call the intelligence officials as witnesses, because the defendants had not requested that they be called.

Tuesday’s trial was conducted under heavy security provided by hundreds of police officers at the courthouse and along the route from the detention center where the accused are being held.

The session began at 9:30 a.m. and ended about 1:45 p.m. It was preceded by a half-day investigative hearing on March 20.

As relatives in the audience wiped tears from their eyes, Chen and Wu delivered lengthy, emotional statements reciting their version of the killing.

All defendants in both trials face possible sentences ranging from 10 years imprisonment to death. Appeals, however, are possible and are considered likely by many observers.

Also contributing to this story was Times staff writer Mark Arax in Los Angeles.