Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) detention angered Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday, with senior party members and officials calling the arrest “politically motivated.”
Some 20 DPP lawmakers denounced the detention at a news conference yesterday morning, calling it part of a government plot to “thoroughly crush the opposition under the guise of democracy and justice.’’
“We have not seen any action into the investigation of the 26 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government officials’ use of their special allowance,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said. “Apparently prosecutors only focused on Chen and other DPP officials’ case, but skipped cases that involved pan-blue officials. Can we term this the death of the judiciary?”
The KMT government wants to beat down pro-localization morale in the guise of democracy and justice, Ker said.
Sarcastically saying that it was “a coincidence” that Chen was detained following last week’s visit to Taiwan by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and before former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) attends the APEC leaders forum later this week, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said she believed the detention was carried out to appease China and dampen the morale of the DPP and the pro-Taiwan movement.
The Kaohsiung City Council’s DPP caucus members handcuffed themselves during a council session to show their dissatisfaction with the court’s decision to detain the former president, displaying signs that read “Death of Justice” and “Political Persecution.”
At a press conference held after the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei yesterday afternoon, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the detention was “shoddily administered and an abuse of power.’’
“We hope authorities can show more respect for the human rights of [a former leader] and not incite people to cause unnecessary division,” Tsai said.
The methods used in investigating Chen’s case had “made many people feel sad, angry and humiliated,” said Tsai, asking the judiciary to abide by the law and respect Chen’s rights.
“The part that was hardest to take was the cuffing of a former president before the court had ordered he be detained,” Tsai said. “[The cuffing] was not just a show of distrust of Chen’s integrity, but also a humiliation of his supporters.”
While urging supporters to stay calm, Tsai said prosecutors had violated “the gag order” during Chen’s investigation by revealing information to selected media organizations.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) had even predicted that Chen would be indicted, and this meant that Chen had been found guilty by the media and the KMT government before his trial even began, Tsai said.
“The judiciary should not become a political tool and Ma should take full responsibility for the injustice Chen faces,” Tsai said.
Since prosecutors did not offer any convincing reasons for why Chen should be detained, Tsai said, her party believed the detention of Chen was aimed at forcing Chen into owning up to the charges, “which was against the principles of human rights and the rule of law.”
At KMT headquarters, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) urged members not to find pleasure in Chen’s detention, and to allow the judicial system to handle the case without political interference.
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