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TAIPEI: A Taiwan court on Friday sentenced former president Chen Shui-bian to life in jail for corruption at the climax of a trial that the pro-independence leader slammed as a political vendetta.
Chen, the first former Taiwan leader to be put on trial, boycotted the verdict in the Taipei district court, which also handed a life term to his wheelchair-bound wife Wu Shu-chen.
A court official said Chen -- who has been held at a detention centre on the outskirts of the capital since December -- was convicted of embezzling state funds, money laundering and accepting bribes.
"Chen was using his background and position to cause damage to the country. That's why the court sentenced him to life imprisonment," court spokesman Huang Chun-ming said.
"Wu as the first lady committed crimes, and therefore the court sentenced her," he added.
Their son Chen Chih-chung got a prison term of two and a half years for money laundering, while daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching received a suspended sentence for the same charge.
The verdicts marked the climax of a court drama that has gripped and divided the island's 23 million people for months.
Chen, 58, had blasted the trial as a political vendetta and revenge for his years in power when he was pursuing independence from China.
Taiwan has been governed separately from China since 1949, but Beijing still considers the island as part of its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.
Chen has said that his Beijing-friendly successor Ma Ying-jeou was behind the alleged witch-hunt, a charge denied by Ma.
The ex-president's refusal to attend the verdict was a protest against what he considered an "illegal and invalid" ruling, his former lawyer Cheng Wen-lung told AFP earlier.
At the court building in Taipei's government district, a group of about 20 Chen supporters had gathered Friday morning, one of them carrying a sign reading "Shame on the court".
"Justice is controlled by the fascist government. The judges have no conscience," said one of the protesters, Yang Tze-fu, as uniformed police rolled out barbed wire around the court building.
Chen, who stepped down in May 2008 after serving two four-year terms, was accused of misusing about 25 million US dollars.
The ex-president had admitted to using false receipts to claim money from the state, but insisted those funds were used for "secret diplomatic missions" -- not his personal benefit.
Chen had also said his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad from campaign funds, but that she did so without his knowledge.
Some legal experts had expressed concern about the handling of the case, including the court's decision to detain Chen before his trial and to switch the presiding judge.
Jerome A. Cohen, a US legal scholar and President Ma's former tutor at Harvard University, said that if there were an appeal, he would prefer to see Chen released for the time being.
"Every society has to protect human rights. This is a long process and a learning process for Taiwan. It is a very sad day, it is also a very important day," he told reporters.
The independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Chen belonged to during almost his entire political career, said human rights were at stake given the length of Chen's detention.
"The DPP urges (the court) to immediately stop detaining former president Chen so he can have a fair trial," the DPP said in a statement on Friday.
- AFP/so
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