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
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS