Transitional Justice Commission Acting Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) on Tuesday pledged to press on to ascertain the truth behind democracy advocate Chen Wen-chen’s (陳文成) death as she joined dozens of others in Taipei to commemorate the 38th anniversary of his death.
Speaking at a memorial ceremony organized by National Taiwan University (NTU) students, Yang said the commission has set up a team to investigate Chen’s case, which has remained unsolved decades after his mysterious death.
“We are investigating whether Chen left the [now-defunct] Taiwan Garrison Command, and when and how he died,” she said.
Chen, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was found dead on NTU’s campus on July 3, 1981, during a visit home.
According to the Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation, Chen was interrogated on the eve of his death by the Taiwan Garrison Command, a unit that suppressed activities it viewed as pro-democratic during Taiwan’s decades-long Martial Law era.
The authorities said that Chen’s death could be the result of suicide or an accident, but his family has maintained that he was murdered by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime due to his support for democracy and human rights movements, as well as his donations to the pro-democracy Formosa Magazine.
Yang said that while Chen’s case has undergone four judicial investigations and two probes by the Control Yuan, several key questions remain unanswered.
“That is why we are hoping to make a breakthrough by combing through the government’s political archives,” she said.
Although political archives related to Chen are categorized by the National Security Bureau as “permanently classified,” Yang said the bureau has agreed to grant the commission “gradual access,” adding that the commission would soon interview people of interest who had not been interviewed in previous investigations.
Several NTU students, faculty and others placed white roses at a temporary commemorative plaque placed by the university in 2017 at the site where Chen’s body was found.
The school in 2015 named the site “Dr Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Square.”
Foundation head Maysing Yang (楊黃美幸) said that the foundation and NTU are trying to raise NT$1.2 million (US$38,548) to repurpose the square, which she said would hopefully be completed next year.
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