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.
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