The Taiwan High Court yesterday began the second trial of 18 military officers indicted over the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) last year, with all defendants declaring their innocence.
The Taoyuan District Court on March 17 found 13 of the military officials guilty of abusing their power by restricting Hung’s personal freedom when they placed him in disciplinary confinement, and sentenced them to between three and eight months in prison. The remaining five were found innocent.
The verdict sparked an angry reaction from the Hung family, who said the sentences were too light. They pleaded with the High Court for justice.
During the hearing, High Court Presiding Judge Liang Yao-pin (梁耀鑌) ordered all 18 to make a statement about the charges.
Former company commander Major Hsu Shin-cheng (徐信正) of the 542nd Brigade and four other defendants expressed their apologies to the Hung family. The remaining 13 said they did nothing to break the law.
“Do any defendants confess to the charges?” Liang asked.
None responded.
He said whether defendants confess to the charges or reach a settlement with the victim’s family would affect the sentence.
“None of the defendants confessed to the charges, and not one has negotiated a settlement with the Hung family, meaning they have shown no remorse,” Taiwan High Court Prosecutor Hsu Yung-chin (許永欽) told the court.
Hsu added that the evidence shows that the defendants “abused and tortured a serviceman for fun.”
The 24-year-old Hung collapsed from heatstroke after participating in punishment exercises on July 3 last year and died in hospital a day later, just three days before he was due to be discharged from compulsory military service.
The family said the case should not be viewed as an act of professional negligence or an infringement on his personal liberty, but rather a move intended to hurt or torture him to death.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS