The Presidential Office received a letter from jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last week, office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) confirmed yesterday, but she declined to reveal its contents.

Ma made the remarks in response to a report in yesterday’s edition of Chinese-language Next Magazine, which said that in the letter addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Chen termed himself “a man of sin” and “a wrecked person,” and said that he was “in no position to ask to be released from prison.”