The Military High Court Prosecu-tors' Office yesterday confirmed that an active duty military officer was detained on Tuesday night and charged with inciting treason.
Major Tung Hwa-cheng (董華正), a military instructor at Taibei [senior] High School in Shilin (
At the protest, Tung showed a copy of a letter he had sent to Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
"[Tung's] participation in the protest was not a problem, but his appearing in uniform and his letter to the minister of national defense was a big problem," said Colonel Chiang Ming-ji (
Following extensive coverage by TV cable news channels of Tung's protest and his letter, the Ministry of National Defense began an investigation and identified Tung as the suspect.
"Although he disguised himself at the scene, his letter to the minister which he displayed alone qualifies for charges of inciting military personnel to treason," Chiang said.
"He may be convicted and be put behind bars for more than seven years just because of the letter," Chiang said.
He said that prosecutors had detained Tung because of the seriousness of the charges.
Tung did not clearly answer all of the questions prosecutors posed, Chiang said.
"It is a soldier's absolute duty to obey the nation's elected leaders. Any behavior encouraging other soldiers to betray the president is regarded as a violation of the Military Criminal Code (
TRANSFER PROTESTED
In other news, another high school military instructor, Major Chang Liang-jung (
The military disputed that claim, saying Chang's transfer was routine.
Chang, accompanied by his sister and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (
The major is assigned to Houli Senior High School in Taichung County as a military instructor.
He said he was informed on Oct. 27 that he would be transfered to a field unit next month.
"I didn't criticize President Chen Shui-bian (
"I don't understand why I have not been allowed to advocate the idea of `anti-corruption' on my blog, a cyberspace place where I express my thoughts. Isn't that a universal value?" he said.
Lee said the director of the Ministry of Education's Department of Student Military Training, Wang Fu-lin (
"Chang has been keeping a low profile since then, but he was transferred in the end," Lee said.
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