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FAPA expresses
outrage over former President Chen's life sentence |
For Immediate
Release
September 11,
2009
FAPA EXPRESSES
OUTRAGE OVER SENTENCING OF FORMER PRESIDENT CHEN
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a Washington
DC-based advocacy organization of Taiwanese Americans, today
expressed outrage over the heavy sentences meted out on September
11th 2009 in Taipei to former President Chen Shui-bian and his wife
Wu Shu-chen.
“This is political persecution by judicial means” states FAPA
President Prof. Bob Yang. He adds: “Chen’s real “crime” is that he
pushed the entrenched Kuomintang regime out of office in 2000, and
moved Taiwan in the direction of freedom and independence.”
Yang adds: “Many international scholars have expressed concern about
the legal process. If we examine similar past graft cases in Taiwan
and other countries around the world, this unusually heavy sentence
given to Chen only reinforces the belief of many Taiwanese citizens
and international scholars that the charges against Chen are
politically motivated. FAPA calls upon the KMT authorities to
release former President Chen pending the further appeal procedures,
which are bound to take a long time. His incarceration is making it
sheer impossible for him to build an adequate defense, denying him a
truly fair trial.”
Yang concludes: “The Kuomintang government could have moved Taiwan
in the right direction by conducting a scrupulously fair trial.
Instead, they blew their chance and turned it into a political
circus, deepening the political divide in Taiwan.”
“It is a sad day for Taiwan’s young democracy.”
FAPA新聞稿
2009年9月11日
FAPA就陳前總統遭判無期徒刑表達憤怒，
呼籲上訴期間釋放陳前總統
台灣人公共事務會(FAPA)今天（11日）就陳水扁前總統以及夫人吳淑珍遭判無期徒刑深表憤怒。
FAPA會長楊英育表示：「這很明顯的是透過司法程序的政治迫害。陳前總統真正的罪行是因為他在2000年推翻國民黨政權，將台灣帶向自由與獨立。」
「許多國際學者對台灣的司法程序陸續表達關切。如果我們比較台灣與世界其他國家過去類似的貪瀆案例，陳前總統不尋常的遭到重判，正印證了許多關心的台灣民眾與國際學者的疑慮，認為此案受政治動機所影響。FAPA在此呼籲國民黨當局在這段上訴期間釋放陳前總統，尤其上訴程序恐怕拖上一段時間。陳前總統如被繼續羈押，無斥是使他毫無可能行使適當辯護準備，等於是先行否定他獲得公平審理的機會。」
楊英育最後表示：「國民黨政府應該嚴謹公正的審查案件，將台灣導向正確的方向。相反地，他們卻放棄這個機會，導致此案淪落為政治馬戲團，加深台灣社會內部分歧。」
「這是年輕的台灣民主中令人難過的一天。」###
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