TAIPEI - Taiwan's High Court ruled Monday that convicted former president Chen Shui-bian would be held for another two months after his detention order expires late this month.

The court decided to keep Chen in custody saying that "if released, he may flee, forge or destroy evidence and collude with the other suspects or witnesses" involved in the wide-ranging graft case.

The same reasons were used by a Taiwan district court to keep Chen, who was president for two full terms until May 2008, as it turned down repeated appeals for release on bail since he was taken into custody in December 2008.

The 59-year-old was convicted in September 2008 of embezzling state funds, laundering money, accepting bribes and committing forgery. He is currently appealing against a life sentence.

Chen's wife, wheelchair-bound Wu Shu-chen, also received a life sentence on related charges.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which Chen once led, has urged the government to free him immediately.

Chen has blasted his trial as a vendetta carried out by the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang administration, in retaliation for his pro-independence stance while president.

Taiwan has been governed separately from China since 1949, but Beijing still considers the island as part of its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.