Chen case testing Taiwan's democracy: analysts

The trial of Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian was also a test of its young democracy, and it passed with only average grades, long-time observers of the island said.

The Taipei district court on Friday found 58-year-old Chen -- in detention since December -- guilty of embezzling state funds, laundering money, accepting bribes and committing forgery.

Questions remain over whether his life sentence was a sign of a healthy legal system in which everyone is equal before the law, or if it marked the birth pangs of a banana republic with the courts reduced to tools in the hands of the powerful.

"One may see a banana republic," said Murray Rubinstein, a Taiwan expert at Baruch College who has written or edited several books on the island's history and politics.

"But I remain an optimist and see it all as a painful learning curve -- and this trial is just the latest step in this process."

Chen's sentencing marked the climax of the most controversial trial in the history of Taiwan, which emerged from authoritarian rule less than a generation ago but is now a vibrant democracy, with what most consider an independent judiciary.

That judiciary did what it was designed to in the Chen case but it could have done much better, according to Lin Feng-cheng, director of Taiwan's Judicial Reform Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.

"The case shows that nobody is above the law and that even a former president can be tried under Taiwan's judicial system, which is progress for the rule of law," said Lin.

"However, there were many problems during the investigation and trial, especially regarding Chen's detention."

While Chen himself has called the trial against him and his wife an act of revenge carried out by political opponents for a life devoted to independence from China, some analysts have difficulties discerning an outright vendetta.

"The investigation was launched and prosecution of his wife was started while Chen was president," said Jerome Cohen, a law professor at New York University.

"He would have been indicted while president if the law had not barred prosecution of a sitting president."

But Cohen argued that the way the court handled the case was open to criticism, citing a "disturbing" mid-trial switch to a judge often accused of being biased against the former president.

In a letter to Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou early this year, nearly 30 international scholars warned the "the erosion of the judicial system" could jeopardise Chen's right to a fair trial.

"Taiwan's judicial system must be not only above suspicion but even above the appearance of suspicion, of partiality and political bias," the letter said.

Under Taiwanese law, a sentence of life in jail is automatically appealed, and the new trial will be a chance for the legal system to make up for its shortcomings so far, observers said.

"One hopes the second-instance trial... will redo the case in a way that will lead people to believe that evil has been punished in a fair and proper way," said Cohen.

Legal experts have called for Chen's release from detention so he can prepare his defence in a more unhindered manner than has been the case so far.

"The High Court should give Chen a fair chance to defend himself when he appeals the ruling but this will be very difficult if he is still in custody," said Lin, of the Judicial Reform Commission.

The Democratic Progressive Party, which Chen belonged to during almost his entire political career, on Saturday said it hoped there would be no repeat of the "many flaws and disputes that violated due process during the first trial".