馬英九濫權構陷，美麗島台灣不再美麗
華府人權行動中心（HRAC）創辦人 傑克希利（Jack Healey）
2103年12月20日，於美國華盛頓特區
節譯者：凃瑞峰
2012年美國華盛頓人權行動中心（HRAC）首次訪台，調查陳水扁的人權問題。2013年11月我們第二次訪台，與陳水扁見面。雖然他的監禁條件得到改善，但他仍然被監禁。他親口對我們説，無論表面如何改善，監獄終究是監獄。同樣的，無論有罪無罪，我們深信陳水扁的自由問題必須受到世人重視。雖然他的醫療照顧也似乎有所改善，對他的醫療照顧仍然限制重重。目前他患有嚴重的睡眠呼吸中止症、手抖、口吃、尿失禁、腦病變以及重度憂鬱症。
我們合理懷疑這些病症是對他惡意的醫療疏失與限制所造成。為什麼他的醫療記錄不能公開接受獨立審視? 他的家屬已同意公開，但是國民黨的馬英九顯然下令封口，為什麼？我們要求相關單立向我們提供這些資料或至少去除所有的障礙。在我們今年的訪問行程中，我們一再被告知特赦陳水扁目前不可行，因為他還有許多案子仍在審判中。然而這些人都不能清楚告訴我們到底有多少案子，以及何時審判可以結束 (註1)。
如果馬英九直接指揮的檢察官都不能回答這些簡單的問題，我們可以斷定這是有計劃的構陷，進行無休止的訴訟，所以特赦總是不可行。合理的司法體系必須是透明的，提起公訴的案子必須明確，審判時間也必須合理。我們要求國民黨當局對此明確回答，保證對陳水扁的訴訟合理迅速解決。
在一個尊重人權的世界，所有的人都完全享有列舉在世界人權宣言中的權利和所有在其中所隱含的權利。釋放陳水扁的意義不在他個人，而是普世人權價值。不尊重合法權利和保護原則會使每個人都處於危險之中。
監禁反對黨中唯一成功執政的人物，這本身就是一個嚴重的問題，台灣曾經被葡萄牙人稱作美麗之島。然而台灣的人權一天一天被系統性的摧殘，美麗之島不再美麗。因此陳水扁的人權問題不僅是陳水扁個人遭受瘋狂殘酷的馬英九迫害的問題，這是對台灣整體的威脅，是對國民黨內外不聽話的人的政治報復。對這位唯一成功打敗國民黨長期專權的缷任總統進行無止盡的追殺，目的是警告所有有意挑戰國民黨的人，他們可能面臨同樣的下場。該是讓病重的陳水扁回家的時候了。如此做尚可保存台灣一息尚存的民主。
讓我們致力保護台灣的美麗──釋放陳水扁！
【註1】請經由以下鏈接參閱鄭文龍律師 製作的案件表
Abusing Power: Is
Ma's Taiwan the Unbeautiful Island?
Posted: 12/20/2013 8:30 am
Since 2012 visit made by the Human Rights Action
Center, much has changed for Chen Shui-bian and the people of Taiwan. After
visiting in 2013, while the material conditions of his detention have been
improved, and that is an important step to have achieved, he is still
incarcerated. In his recent words, "no matter how nice things may appear,
a prison is a prison is a prison." His political opponents may call for
him to serve out his term and to protest that he is given better conditions
than the bulk of the island's prison population. Outsiders may defer judging
the situation owing to their non-expert status on Taiwan's legal codes and
procedures. We submit that there are some clear and simple reasons why we
believe that Chen Shui-bian's freedom is important irrespective of whether or
not he is guilty of the charges that have been levied against him so far.
Although his medical care seems to have improved
since 2012's visit by HRAC, his clinical conditions are still leaving more than
a little to be desired. Serious sleep apnea, xerostomia, and weakness might not immediately
arouse outsider concern. But the allegations of neurological problems,
kidney issues, and peripheral circulation problems might. For a former
president to admit to facing incontinence, demonstrating fairly heavy tremors
in his hand, and displaying an intermittent stutter that renders him unable to
speak confidently is fairly unusual, but to recognize that there are credible
allegations of a number of his serious medical concerns being generated,
worsened, or made permanent due to medically abandoning negligence and/or
dangerously rushed batteries of tests is unprecedented for a politician in
recent memory. Protests by the government that his medical records can't be
released don't gel well with the assertions that they've been released to his
family and are available to independent examination if they'll allow it. Are
his medical records available for examination or not? If the family agrees (and
they have) to allow such an examination, what message might the current
Kuomintang President Ma intend by putting gag orders on their examination? We
request anyone with authority to provide us with such information or at least
to remove all barriers to it.
In our meetings in Taiwan, we were informed by
some people from Chen's own medical team, his popular supporters, opposition DPP loyalists, KMT officials, and the rest that releasing
someone is not allowed until after all extant legal proceedings are discharged
through to a verdict. Without getting into the specifics of the island's legal
structures, it is mind-boggling that nobody was able to simply tell us how many
pending cases exist or what the expected timeframe would be for their
resolution. There are strong inferences that can be made when a prosecutor
under Ma's direct authority is refusing to simply release this sort of
information. The impression is that there is a concerted effort to simply
introduce additional cases as necessary to provide an endless parade of
judicial procedure. This allows the governing party to claim on one hand an
"inability" to provide any sort of relief or parole or pardon, while
on the other hand helping to actually create the conditions that prevent such
consideration. A reasonable judicial system would be transparent as to
remaining charges and a reasonable timeline for their resolution. We ask
authorities to provide a definitive answer to this question and to ensure a
reasonably speedy resolution of proceedings against Chen.
Human rights are not very easy to separate from
one another. Separating principles and ideas away from one another in this way
is like trying to cleave parts of the mind away from one another. It just
doesn't really work. In a world that respects human rights, all people have
complete access to the rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and for all the
rights that are implied therein. The question of releasing Chen Shui-bian is
about principle more than people. Disrespecting principles of legal rights and
protections puts everyone at risk. Having the first-and-only member of the
opposition in a new multiparty Taiwan jailed is only a piece of the problem,
but it is an important and imperative one. Taiwan was once named Ilha Formosa by the Portuguese.
It means "beautiful island." As the hard-won expansions of human
rights are eroded symbolically and actually, we find that it gets a little less
beautiful every day.
So the threat with Taiwan, while very much
signaled by and tied to Chen's apparent victimization at the hands of an angry,
vindictive, and powerful Ma Ying-jeou, is larger than one person. Chen's case speaks
to the overcrowding which plagues the prisons, the use of the law to pursue
political revenge against anyone who fails to fall in line (including some from
within the KMT party itself). The message that is sent symbolically by ruthless
pursuit of a former head-of-state for nonviolent charges (the only person from
outside the formerly one-party system of the KMT to hold the top office), the
message is that dissent will not be tolerated. By extension, the extinction of
a culture of vibrant dissent is a slow flickering death to the recently lit
candle of democracy. Free Chen Shui-bian to go home as an already broken former
leader and retain what little is left of Taiwan's respect on the political
stage of democracy. Keep Taiwan beautiful. Free Chen Shui-bian.
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