Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Former president Chen Shui-bian is escorted by security staff following a medical procedure in a hospital in Greater Taichung on Dec. 13, last year. Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay yesterday denied involvement or giving instructions on a judiciary hearing on Chen’s medical parole request.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times

The Taiwan High Court yesterday rejected former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) application for medical parole, saying his case should be taken up in the administrative court.

The High Court added that the decision could be appealed in the Supreme Court.

The judges said Chen’s parole case relates to his treatment at prison facilities controlled by the Ministry of Justice’s Agency of Corrections, so it comes under the jurisdiction of the administrative authority.

What is the significance of a constitution in a democracy? Last month the first openly lesbian judge on Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, Susanne Baer, visited Taiwan. She always carried a pocket-sized copy of the German constitution — the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany — and wherever she went, whether she was giving a lecture or participating in a seminar, and whether she talked about human rights, equality or dignity, she took this little book out of her pocket and brought it to life by quoting and reading from it.