Military prosecutors yesterday named the former 542nd Brigade commander, Major General Shen Wei-chih (沈威志), as a defendant in the investigation into the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘). Hung died on July 4, following physical exercises he had been forced to do as part of his punishment while confined to detention barracks.
Shen, who approved the disciplinary action for Hung, was charged with Offenses Against Abandonment (妨害自由罪), prosecutors said, adding that Shen has hired a lawyer.
Hung’s family had said Shen received a text message from Hung asking for help before he was placed in confinement, but Shen did not respond.
A lawyer for the Hung family, Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), said Hung’s Body Mass Index (BMI) was 33 so he should not have been placed in confinement according to military regulations, but Shen approved the punishment and may have serious questions to answer concerning Hung’s death.
Meanwhile, military prosecutors yesterday morning conducted a simulation of Hung’s drills and the emergency treatment given to him at the 569th Brigade’s detention center in Taoyuan County.
Personnel responsible for supervising soldiers in confinement and three soldiers who were in confinement with Hung took part in the simulation, military prosecutors said.
Hung’s family and attorneys were allowed to watch the simulation, said Wellington Koo (顧立雄), head of the legal team representing the family of the 24-year-old soldier.
The military court said it also invited Hung’s uncle and sister to witness the simulation, which lasted from 9am to about 2pm.
Tsao Chin-sheng (曹金生), chief military prosecutor general, said before entering the base at about 11am that he hoped the simulation would help investigators reveal the truth of the case as soon as possible.
Tsao said that the military court has been negotiating closely with the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office and has obtained data from another simulation that was conducted by the office a few days ago.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday also questioned Staff Sergeant Fan Tso-hsien (范佐憲) about the loss of a portion of a surveillance video that may have offered insights into Hung’s death.
Fan, who has been detained by the Military High Court, is believed to be a key figure in the case.
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
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