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Two officers detained
over Hung
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Two officers of the army’s 542nd Brigade were detained by the Military High
Court yesterday for their suspected roles in the death of army corporal Hung
Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), a case that has drawn national attention and public outrage
amid allegations of widespread bullying in the military.
Major Hsu Shin-cheng (徐信正) and Staff Sergeant Fan Tso-hsien (范佐憲), both officers
of the 542nd Brigade’s Headquarters Company, were detained on charges of
obstruction of personal liberty, unauthorized punishment of subordinates and
collusion, the court said.
Hsu allegedly had not gone through required procedures in his approval of Hung’s
disciplinary order, while Fan is suspected of having manipulated the results of
a Sergeant Evaluation Committee meeting, a required procedure for Hung’s
confinement, and trying to influence the testimony of the other witnesses, the
court said in a press release.
Three officers of the brigade, including the vice brigade commander, Colonel Ho
Chiang-chung (何江忠), have now been detained over the case, in which the
23-year-old corporal died from heat exhaustion on July 4 after participating in
a training session the day before.
Hung had been serving in the army’s 542nd Brigade in Hsinchu County before he
was transferred to the 269th Brigade in Taoyuan on June 28 for disciplinary
action for bringing a cellphone with a camera onto a base without permission. He
was placed in solitary confinement.
Speaking on behalf of the Hung family, Hung’s uncle Hu Shih-ho (胡世和) said Army
Command “was either being tricked by the investigators and officers or
intentionally lied to the public,” adding that the Ministry of National Defense
(MND) has failed to implement a witness protection program so whistleblowers can
provide testimony without fear of persecution.
Hung had asked for help many times before his death, making a telephone call to
his mother and sending text messages to Brigade Commander Shen Wei-chih (沈威志)
before he was sent to the confinement area, as well as raising his hands twice
during the physical training to signal to supervisors he was in pain, on July 3,
Hu said.
“And [the MND] is telling me that Hung Chung-chiu’s death was only a result of a
series of administrative errors?” Hu said.
Much attention has been focused on missing surveillance video recordings on July
1 and July 3 at the confinement area — which the Hungs have urged the MND to
secure or recover as evidence as soon as possible — and testimony from several
soldiers in the brigade. Members of the public have also accused the military of
being too slow in its investigation and refusing to work with non-military
judicial authorities to speed up the pace.
With regards of joint investigation and video footage, senior military
prosecutor Major General Tsao Chin-sheng (曹金生) reiterated that the case would be
handled by the military judiciary alone and there was no “missing July 3 video
footage” because the location where Hung fell ill is not covered by any
surveillance camera.
Separately in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Legislator Chao Tien-ling (趙天麟) disclosed an interview with a soldier who was in
the confinement area of the 269th Brigade at the same time as Hung.
The soldier, not identified by Chao to protect his safety, recounted details of
what he said he witnessed during the last 30 minutes before Hung was rushed to
the hospital on July 3, saying that Hung trembled and collapsed at about dinner
time after five days of rigorous physical training, but an ambulance did not
arrive until 20 minutes later and no first-aid measures, other than the use of
an oxygen cylinder, were employed to alleviate Hung’s condition.
The officers brought first-aid equipment to the confinement area, where there
had been no medical equipment before July 3, the next day, the soldier was
quoted as saying.
Chao asked the MND to relocate the witnesses who blew the whistle on the
misconduct as stipulated in the Witness Protection Act (證人保護法).
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) on Wednesday also cited an unidentified
source as saying that Colonel Chen Yi-ming (陳毅銘), director of the 269th
Brigade’s Political Warfare Office, ordered the destruction of a 30-minute video
recording, an accusation that Chen denied.
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