Chen Shui-bian will be remembered for 10,000 years

Our sympathy goes to Judge Tsai. We understand that he has agonized for close to three years since he started trying former first lady Wu Shu-chen on charges of corruption in connection with the misappropriation of a public fund under her husband's control for the conduct of “affairs of state.” She was accused of borrowing receipts and invoices from friends and relatives to claim reimbursements topping NT$100 million in the eight years while her husband was president.

Wu is paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a wheelchair for life, and she absented herself from all trial hearings for reasons of poor health until after her husband bowed out as president on May 20 last year.

When she was first indicted on November 3, 2006, her husband was not formally charged along with her, for he was immune to criminal prosecution. But he was regarded as an unindicted co-defendant who would be indicted on leaving office. The Special Counsel reinvestigated his case, and the investigation led to his indictment on six counts in four cases at the end of last year.

After a brief period of court politics haggling, Tsai was made to try ex-President Chen as well. The judge, who is still young, has been under unbelievably harsh pressure. He probably knew all along the ex-president is guilty. But the judge lacked iron-clad evidence to convict the errant former head of state. In the end, Tsai, who knows the limitations of statutory law, handed down a guilty verdict. Remember that a judge in the United States or Great Britain is free from such agony, for it is the jury who normally finds the defendant guilty or innocent.

One thing we deplore is that Chen Shui-bian, by hook or by crook, has a small but vociferous club of fans who, though not convinced of his innocence, are ready to take to the streets to protest against the political persecution which they claim President Ma Ying-jeou is pursuing against their beloved champion for Taiwan independence. They are demanding Chen's release at once so that he may continue to dream of founding a republic of Taiwan.

They have one excuse. Practically none of them doubt Chen raked in money and laundered it abroad. But they justify the bribery as one committed by “one of us,” rather than “one of them” who serve in the alien regime of their hated Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang.

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