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Pan-green camp pans
Hung report
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
President and commander-in-chief Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) has wasted an opportunity to
redeem the military¡¦s honor and to regain people¡¦s trust with the investigation
report on the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (¬x¥ò¥C) issued by the
military judiciary yesterday, the pan-green camp said.
While 18 military personnel were indicted by the Supreme Military Court¡¦s
Prosecutors¡¦ Office on various charges related to Hung¡¦s death, the report and
the indictment statement failed to address the motivation behind their behavior,
the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU)
said.
¡§The truth will never be found without knowing the motivation behind the crime,¡¨
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (ªL«T¾Ë) told a press conference, adding that the
military judiciary¡¦s hasty prosecution before a planned mass protest on
Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Saturday was likely an effort to neutralize the
demonstration.
The report depicted Hung as an unpopular member of his unit and left the
question of how he had offended his superiors and many other questions
unanswered, Lin said.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (½²^¤å) yesterday visited the Hung family in
Greater Taichung and said the case was ¡§a tragedy for the entire Taiwanese
society,¡¨ for which the government has to be held responsible.
The family¡¦s determination to find the truth has inspired the public and
provided the opportunity for a social reform movement, Tsai said
The public has examined the incident from every possible angle, but most people
are not satisfied with the government¡¦s attitude in response to the
controversial death, she said.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (°ª§ÓÄP) told a separate news conference that the hasty
prosecution showed that the Ma administration is trying to avoid amending
military laws and to ¡§clear up the mess¡¨ ahead of Ma¡¦s visit to Central and
South America, which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11.
Gao also accused the military judiciary of ignoring the Ministry of Justice,
which has assigned the Taoyuan District Prosecutors¡¦ Office to probe alleged
destruction of evidence in the case, by proceeding with the indictments while
the civilian investigation was still underway.
¡§It does not look like the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of
Justice have been collaborating on the case as Ma had demanded,¡¨ Gao said,
adding that the military judiciary only wanted to finish the investigation
before new Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang¡¦s (·¨©À¯ª) report is delivered
to the legislature today.
The TSU also panned the military for treating the case as manslaughter rather
than murder, saying there appeared to be an effort to make lower-ranked
non-commissioned officers the scapegoats to protect high-ranking officers.
¡§They gave us the results [of the prosecution], but not the truth. An indictment
statement without the perpetrators¡¦ motivation is not acceptable,¡¨ TSU
Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (¸¬z¹a) said.
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