The Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) expressed “deep disappointment” at the latest development in the embezzlement and corruption case against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍).
The Taiwan High Court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling in September last year that found Chen and Wu guilty of embezzling state funds, committing forgery and laundering some of the money through Swiss bank accounts.
The High Court reduced Chen’s life sentence to 20 years in prison, and Wu’s life sentence to 20 years and cut her fine from NT$300 million to NT$200 million. Six of the other eight defendants, including Chen’s son and daughter-in-law, also saw their sentences reduced. Chen’s lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
FAPA, the largest group representing the Taiwanese community in the US, said the High Court’s ruling only served to demonstrate that Taiwan’s judiciary “is still tainted by its repressive past.”
“The reduction of the sentences does not take away the fact that the trial has been highly partisan and unfair,” FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) said. “In any democratic country, the severe flaws in the judicial process and the obvious bias of the prosecution would have been ample reason to throw the case out of court and dismiss the charges.”
“Taiwan needs fundamental judicial reform to bring it into the 21st century and in line with the principles of a democracy in which there is clear separation of powers,” he said.
In a statement, FAPA said that both the democratic opposition in Taiwan and international scholars, such as former Harvard Law professor Jerome Cohen, had cited “persistent partisanship and lack of fairness” in the proceedings against Chen.
The statement said there was also frequent abuse by prosecutors who leaked damaging information about Chen to the press.
According to the statement, Bruce Jacobs of Monash University in Australia said the Chen case would “continue to haunt the legal system” in Taiwan.
Jacobs was quoted as saying that it was inappropriate for Chen to be kept in detention during the trial and appeal process and that the reasons given by the court for the continued detention were “flimsy.”
Chen was first detained at the Taipei Detention Center on Nov. 12, 2008, and released on Dec. 13, 2008, after he was indicted. He was detained again on Dec. 30, 2008, and has remained in detention since.
On April 16, High Court Judge Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球) ruled that Chen should remain in custody for two more months, until June 23.
The court will decide before June 23 whether to detain him for another two months.
In Taipei yesterday, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) declined to comment when asked by reporters whether the court violated Chen’s human rights by keeping him in custody for the duration of the trial.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING AND STAFF WRITER
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) yesterday apologized after the suicide of a civil servant earlier this month and announced that a supervisor accused of workplace bullying would be demoted. On Nov. 4, a 39-year-old information analyst at the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) northern branch, which covers greater Taipei and Keelung, as well as Yilan, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, was found dead in their office. WDA northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, would be demoted to a nonsupervisory position, Ho told a news conference in Taipei. WDA Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said he would
RSS