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A-bian’s trials show
justice as political tool: academics
‘CRUEL POLITICAL VENDETTA’: Legal experts,
physicians and activists said the same judge treated Ma and Chen very
differently, despite the similarities in their trials
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The judicial system in Taiwan, in particular the way prosecutors and judges
conduct investigations and trials, has long been used as a “shameless” tool for
political persecution, of which the best example is the case of imprisoned
former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), activists said yesterday.
A group of law professors, physicians and activists made the comments at a
book-launching ceremony, organized by the publisher Taiwan Association of
University Professors (TAUP).
The book, titled Judicial justice and human rights — the Chen Shui-bian case
(司法正義與人權 — 從扁案談起), collected eight theses that examine Chen’s case from various
legal points of view, including defendants’ rights, the president’s state
affairs fund, presidential authority and correlation between politics and
justice, among others.
“I would say that Chen’s cases are ‘benchmark cases’ of transitional justice in
Taiwan because they have been political cases rather than legal cases, as well
as the result of turning the judicial system into a political instrument, from
the first minute,” said one of the authors, National Taipei University professor
Chen Yao-hsiang (陳耀祥).
The same judge heard Chen’s state affairs fund case and President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) special allowance case, which were essentially similar, but handled the
trials differently and handed down drastically different rulings, he cited as an
example.
“The trial against Chen was like a trial against a war criminal, rather than a
citizen,” he said.
Participants at the launch said the “illegal and absurd practices” during Chen’s
prosecution included pre-trial detention, extended detention for unconvincing
reasons, prosecutors demanding that a witness provide false testimony and the
arraignment of Chen’s three-year-old granddaughter as a witness.
The former president’s lawyer Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍) said that the judicial system
is the only institution that has not yet been democratized, as evidenced by the
malpractice in Chen’s trials.
Turning to the issue of Chen’s medical parole, Aletheia University law professor
Wu Chin-ching (吳景欽) said the Ministry of Justice has been sitting on the issue
and ignoring human rights.
Wu said it is not an issue only for the former president, because records show
that about 600 of the 900 prisoners who were granted medical parole in the past
never made it back to prison.
“They all died. They were already very ill and very close to death prior to
their parole,” Wu said, adding that Chen’s case also indicated the necessity of
prison reform.
Taipei District Court judge Hung Ying-hua (洪英花) said the ministry has not
reacted to a Control Yuan correction in September last year of its failure to
establish standard operating procedures and qualification criteria for medical
parole.
National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who was on Chen
Shui-bian’s private medical team, urged the government to establish clear
criteria for prisoners’ medical paroles.
“Only an authoritarian regime would prefer ambiguity over clear regulations,
because that is what allows it to play tricks,” Ko said.
Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said he was glad law experts have spoken on
his father’s cases, which he said was a “cruel political vendetta.”
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