The government must grant medical parole to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), not only for the sake of protecting his rights, but for the sake of social stability, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
“Since former president Chen Shui-bian’s health is failing, the DPP calls on President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] to respect the assessments of medical professionals and grant him medical parole, so he may receive appropriate treatment at home,” DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said yesterday. “By granting Chen medical parole, Ma would be acting in accordance with the two international human rights covenants that he signed, and which the legislature adopted as law.”
Huang said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is extremely concerned about Chen, especially after staff at Taipei Veterans’ General Hospital and other medical professionals who have examined the former president concluded that he is no longer fit to stay in prison.
Tsai has told the DPP to provide any assistance that will facilitate Chen’s medical parole, Huang said.
All newly elected or re-elected DPP city and county officials backed the party leadership’s call.
“Chen, in such a vulnerable condition, should be allowed to go home,” Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said at DPP headquarters after a Central Standing Committee meeting. “I hope that Ma changes his mind, for the harmony, solidarity and development of Taiwan.”
Taoyuan City mayor-elect Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) agreed, saying that, for human rights reasons, Chen should be granted medical parole.
Meanwhile, eight psychiatrists — including the head of Mackay Memorial Hospital’s psychiatry department in Hsinchu, Wu Yi-cheng (吳易澄), and Wanfang Hospital’s Billy Pan (潘建志) — launched a petition urging Chen’s release yesterday. As of press time, the motion had been endorsed by nearly 500 people.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also supported granting “A-bian” medical parole.
“Granting medical parole to former president Chen would certainly facilitate the reconciliation of the pan-blue and pan-green camps,” Hau told reporters at a public event at Taipei City Hall.
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