Click here for the press
release.
Free Taiwan’s
former President Chen Shui-bian now
A joint appeal of Taiwanese-American organizations
July 7, 2009
We, the undersigned
representatives of Taiwanese-American organizations,
hereby call upon the government in Taiwan to
immediately end the incarceration of former
President Chen Shui-bian. The continuing detention
of Mr. Chen violates his fundamental human rights
and represents a blatant miscarriage of justice.
The failure of the
Taiwan Judiciary to conduct a fair, impartial and
independent trial of Mr. Chen is evidenced by a
litany of prosecutorial misdeeds. A few follow.
First, in November, 2008, Mr. Chen was arrested,
chained in handcuffs and was denied family
visitation before there was ever an indictment
against him. Earlier he had been banned from
leaving the country. Contrast this with the case of
then Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou. Mr. Ma
was not arrested, handcuffed or imprisoned at the
time of his formal indictment for corruption on
February 13, 2007, let alone during the
pre-indictment period. He had no trouble leaving
Taiwan for a visit to Singapore. The unequal
application of law can not be starker. Second, Mr.
Chou Chan-chun, head of the three-judge panel trying
the former President, was relieved of his duties
after the panel ended the detention of Mr. Chen on
his own cognizance at the time of his indictment in
December, 2008. Judge Tsai Shou-hsun, taking over
from Mr. Chou, promptly returned Mr. Chen to the
Taipei Detention Center. This switch of judges took
place amid severe criticism by KMT legislators of
Mr. Chou’s decision to free Mr. Chen. Third,
Ministry of Justice employees, some of whom involved
in Mr. Chen’s case, mocked him in a skit attended
and apparently condoned by the Minister of Justice
Wang Ching-feng herself. Taiwan’s judicial
professionalism sank to its nadir. Fourth, in May,
2009, in punishing Mr. Chen for his hunger strike,
wardens at the Taipei Detention Center stripped him
of his visitation privileges one time and not
allowing him out of his cell three times, as well as
confiscating his TV and radio. Such actions
deprived Mr. Chen of his basic human rights.
These occurrences,
taken together, strongly suggest that the detention
of former President Chen has been politically
motivated. This prolonged incarceration, now in
excess of two hundred days, is unjustifiable legally
and unconscionable on human rights grounds. It is
unbecoming of Taiwan as a free and democratic
country. We strongly urge the Ma government in
Taiwan to release former President Chen Shui-bian
now.
Signatories:
Kang-Hou Wang, President,
Dr. Kang-Lu Wang Memorial Foundation
Terri Giles, Executive Director,
Formosa Foundation
Linda Lin, President,
Formosan Association
for Human Rights
Bob I. Yang, President,
Formosan Association
for Public Affairs
Mary Helen Cruz, President,
Friends of Taiwan, Inc.
Sheyling
Chang, President,
North
America Taiwanese Women's Association
Ben Liu, President,
North America
Taiwanese Professors' Association and
Professor Chen
Wen-chen Memorial Foundation
Chanchi Lee, President,
Taiwan Hakka
Association for Public Affairs in North America
Chung-nan Shih, President,
Taiwanese Association
of America
Fred H. Wang, President,
Taiwanese Hakka
Association of America
Susan Chang, President,
World Federation of
Taiwanese Associations and World Taiwanese Congress
Lipang Chang, Chairman,
World United
Formosans for Independence-Canada
James S. Chen, Chairman,
World United
Formosans for Independence-U.S.A.
