Detained Chen in Taiwan hospital
 Earlier in the day Mr Chen was dramatically led away in handcuffs |
A court proceeding against Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian has been suspended after he asked to be taken to hospital.
Mr Chen told the judges he needed treatment after being pushed earlier in the day, opposition lawmaker Lai Ching-teh told reporters.
Earlier, Mr Chen was detained by prosecutors questioning him over corruption charges.
The charges relate to his eight years in office, which ended in May.
He is accused of money laundering and illegally using a special presidential fund.
He denies any wrongdoing, and accuses the new administration of persecuting him to bow to the wishes of Beijing.
Mr Chen is an ardent supporter of Taiwanese independence, and a trenchant critic of President Ma Ying-jeou's Kuomintang (KMT) administration, which he accuses of pandering to Beijing.
His detention comes days after a historic visit to the island by a senior Chinese envoy was marred by violent protests.
'Pushed from behind'
The former leader was in court for a hearing to decide whether his detention earlier in the day by prosecutors should be formally approved.
 |   The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party see me as their number one prisoner as I am the biggest stone blocking their way to reunification  Chen Shui-bian  |
"The former president told the judges that he was pushed from behind while being escorted out of the prosecutors' office, and demanded that he be sent to the National Taiwan University Hospital to examine his injuries," Mr Lai told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.
"The judges have taken seriously the former president's complaints and decided to suspend the hearing," Mr Lai said.
There were no more details on the type of injury Mr Chen may have sustained.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Chen had spent more than six hours in the prosecutors' office answering questions about corruption before he was dramatically handcuffed and led to a waiting car.
'A sacrifice'
As he was led out, he put his handcuffed hands in the air and shouted "political persecution" to an audience of dozens of protesting supporters.
"The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party see me as their number one prisoner as I am the biggest stone blocking their way to reunification," Mr Chen reportedly said.
He said the Chinese envoy, Chen Yunlin, "had a bad time in Taiwan... so Ma Ying-jeou wants to put me in jail as a sacrifice to appease China. I am very honoured and proud to play such a role."
Mr Chen and his family have been mired in corruption allegations since 2006, when his son-in-law was charged with insider trading on the stock market and then jailed for seven years.
The former president is under investigation for allegedly embezzling 14.8 million Taiwan dollars (US$480,500; £306,000) from the government.
The charges have damaged the reputation of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), observers say, which now faces a rough ride in local elections next year.
Taiwan has been ruled separately since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949; the defeated Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan to create a self-governing entity.
But Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
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Chen Shui-bian
Mr Chen, who served two terms as president, is a controversial figure
Chen Shui-bian, a native-born Taiwanese, served as the island's president from 2000 to 2008.
A charismatic public speaker from a poor rural background, Mr Chen is seen as a steely fighter with a populist touch.
Despite winning a second term in office in 2004, his hopes of building a lasting political legacy were undermined by waning popularity and a series of corruption scandals.
In 2006, following a string of allegations against his family and advisers, he was seriously weakened when prosecutors arrested his son-in-law on insider trading charges in July and then, in November, said his wife faced charges of corruption and forgery.
Presidential immunity prevented prosecutors charging Mr Chen when he was in office but, six months after stepping down in May 2008, he was arrested in connection with allegations of money laundering, bribery and embezzlement of government funds.
He denied the allegations, which he said were politically motivated.
After his detention, he was shown on television being led out of a prosecutor's office in handcuffs amid tight security.
Controversial
Mr Chen has often been a controversial figure.
He was an ardent supporter of independence for Taiwan, but insisted he was a "peacemaker, not a troublemaker", saying he had no plans to declare independence except in the event of a Chinese invasion.
But his often prickly approach towards Beijing, and his Democratic Progressive Party's traditional pro-independence stance, caused some to worry about Taiwan's longer-term stability and prosperity.
China was deeply suspicious of him when he was in office, accusing him of planning constitutional changes that would destroy its hopes of eventual reunification.
Childhood poverty
Chen Shui-bian's life is a tale of tenacity in the face of adversity.
He was born to illiterate tenant farmers in a village in southern Taiwan in 1951.
Wu Shu-chen, Taiwan's first lady
Chen Shui-bian's wife was paralysed in an apparent assassination attempt
Education became his ticket out of poverty. He was the best student in his county and earned himself a place at the prestigious Taiwan National University where he gained a law degree.
As an ambitious young lawyer, he joined a maritime legal firm and married Wu Shu-chen, the daughter of a wealthy doctor.
Mr Chen fell into politics in the early 1980s when he defended a group of pro-independence leaders following a protest in the port of Kaohsiung.
He lost the case, but he was won over by his clients' ideals. The defendants and their lawyers subsequently became the core of the democratic opposition
Tragedy struck in 1985, when his wife was paralysed from the waist down after a truck ran over her in what many believe was an assassination attempt on Mr Chen himself.
Imprisonment
The following year, Mr Chen was jailed for eight months after losing a libel case involving the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT).
But if his enemies hoped to keep him out of politics, they achieved the very opposite.
A woman waves the Republic of China flag out of her apartment window
China accused Mr Chen of promoting Taiwanese independence
He became a member of the Taipei municipal council and, after the birth of multi-party politics and the formation of the DPP, became the capital city's first popularly-elected mayor in 1994.
Mr Chen fought corruption, shut down brothels, improved traffic and levelled a large slum to create a park. But his abrasive and sometimes autocratic style also made him enemies.
When Taipei's voters threw him out four years later, he turned his defeat into an opportunity to run for the presidency in 2000.
His personal success in that campaign was followed by his party's victory in parliamentary elections the following year - the first democratic transfer of power from one party to another in the Chinese world.
Much of Mr Chen's appeal to voters lies in his personal dynamism and his down-to-earth background - many refer to him by his nickname, A-bian.
Theatrical showman
"At his public rallies," said one observer, "he is quite brilliant at working the crowd. He gets them laughing and uses elaborately choreographed music, fireworks and balloons to build up the atmosphere. He's a real showman."
He has also been seen as something of a maverick.
In 2004, in Taiwan's first-ever televised presidential debate, his opponent Lien Chan focused on the president's character, calling him "capricious," "irresponsible" and "unreliable".
Mr Chen indignantly dismissed his allegations. "My hairstyle has never changed over the years," he said, "nor my love for my wife."
Mr Chen left office in May 2008 when he was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou, who had campaigned on promises to expand economic ties with Beijing and end the confrontational approach of his predecessor.
Advertisement
Accessibility Help
* Skip to content
* Skip to bbc.co.uk search
* Low graphics
* Accessibility Help
* Access keys help
British Broadcasting Corporation
Search term
Explore the BBC
BBC News Updated every minute of every day
watch One-Minute World News
News Front Page
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East
South Asia
UK
Business
Health
Science & Environment
Technology
Entertainment
Also in the news
-----------------
Video and Audio
-----------------
Advertisement
Have Your Say
In Pictures
Country Profiles
Special Reports
Related BBC sites
* Sport
* Weather
* On This Day
* Editors' Blog
* BBC World Service
Chen Shui-bian
Mr Chen, who served two terms as president, is a controversial figure
Chen Shui-bian, a native-born Taiwanese, served as the island's president from 2000 to 2008.
A charismatic public speaker from a poor rural background, Mr Chen is seen as a steely fighter with a populist touch.
Despite winning a second term in office in 2004, his hopes of building a lasting political legacy were undermined by waning popularity and a series of corruption scandals.
In 2006, following a string of allegations against his family and advisers, he was seriously weakened when prosecutors arrested his son-in-law on insider trading charges in July and then, in November, said his wife faced charges of corruption and forgery.
Presidential immunity prevented prosecutors charging Mr Chen when he was in office but, six months after stepping down in May 2008, he was arrested in connection with allegations of money laundering, bribery and embezzlement of government funds.
He denied the allegations, which he said were politically motivated.
After his detention, he was shown on television being led out of a prosecutor's office in handcuffs amid tight security.
Controversial
Mr Chen has often been a controversial figure.
He was an ardent supporter of independence for Taiwan, but insisted he was a "peacemaker, not a troublemaker", saying he had no plans to declare independence except in the event of a Chinese invasion.
But his often prickly approach towards Beijing, and his Democratic Progressive Party's traditional pro-independence stance, caused some to worry about Taiwan's longer-term stability and prosperity.
China was deeply suspicious of him when he was in office, accusing him of planning constitutional changes that would destroy its hopes of eventual reunification.
Childhood poverty
Chen Shui-bian's life is a tale of tenacity in the face of adversity.
He was born to illiterate tenant farmers in a village in southern Taiwan in 1951.
Wu Shu-chen, Taiwan's first lady
Chen Shui-bian's wife was paralysed in an apparent assassination attempt
Education became his ticket out of poverty. He was the best student in his county and earned himself a place at the prestigious Taiwan National University where he gained a law degree.
As an ambitious young lawyer, he joined a maritime legal firm and married Wu Shu-chen, the daughter of a wealthy doctor.
Mr Chen fell into politics in the early 1980s when he defended a group of pro-independence leaders following a protest in the port of Kaohsiung.
He lost the case, but he was won over by his clients' ideals. The defendants and their lawyers subsequently became the core of the democratic opposition
Tragedy struck in 1985, when his wife was paralysed from the waist down after a truck ran over her in what many believe was an assassination attempt on Mr Chen himself.
Imprisonment
The following year, Mr Chen was jailed for eight months after losing a libel case involving the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT).
But if his enemies hoped to keep him out of politics, they achieved the very opposite.
A woman waves the Republic of China flag out of her apartment window
China accused Mr Chen of promoting Taiwanese independence
He became a member of the Taipei municipal council and, after the birth of multi-party politics and the formation of the DPP, became the capital city's first popularly-elected mayor in 1994.
Mr Chen fought corruption, shut down brothels, improved traffic and levelled a large slum to create a park. But his abrasive and sometimes autocratic style also made him enemies.
When Taipei's voters threw him out four years later, he turned his defeat into an opportunity to run for the presidency in 2000.
His personal success in that campaign was followed by his party's victory in parliamentary elections the following year - the first democratic transfer of power from one party to another in the Chinese world.
Much of Mr Chen's appeal to voters lies in his personal dynamism and his down-to-earth background - many refer to him by his nickname, A-bian.
Theatrical showman
"At his public rallies," said one observer, "he is quite brilliant at working the crowd. He gets them laughing and uses elaborately choreographed music, fireworks and balloons to build up the atmosphere. He's a real showman."
He has also been seen as something of a maverick.
In 2004, in Taiwan's first-ever televised presidential debate, his opponent Lien Chan focused on the president's character, calling him "capricious," "irresponsible" and "unreliable".
Mr Chen indignantly dismissed his allegations. "My hairstyle has never changed over the years," he said, "nor my love for my wife."
Mr Chen left office in May 2008 when he was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou, who had campaigned on promises to expand economic ties with Beijing and end the confrontational approach of his predecessor.
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