The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan yesterday lambasted President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for its treatment of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), while calling for medical parole for Chen.

In a press conference yesterday, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan General Assembly moderator Pusin Tali (布興大立) said that Chen, serving an 18-and-a-half-year prison term on corruption charges, has been imprisoned for 1,000-odd days at Taipei Prison, where he shares a 1.3 ping (4.29m2) cell with another inmate and is under 24-hour surveillance.

Treating any criminal like this is maniacal, no matter whether regarding it in terms of human rights or from the perspective of the judiciary, he said.