The family of deceased army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) yesterday condemned the prosecutors in the trial following his death for what they called their failure to provide concrete evidence to the Taoyuan District Court showing that Hung died as a result of intentional action, not professional negligence.
The court on Friday found 13 military officials guilty of abusing their power by restricting Hung’s personal freedom when placing him in disciplinary confinement and sentenced them to between three and eight months in prison.
The verdict sparked an angry response from the Hungs, who said the sentences are too light.
Photo: Chang Hsuen-che, Taipei Times
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 his compulsory military service.
“From the military prosecutors to those working at the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office, all were too passive and conservative. They did not try their best to find concrete evidence to prosecute the defendants appropriately,” said Hung’s sister, Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸).
“Sentencing him [Hung Chung-chiu] to disciplinary confinement was not an act of professional negligence, nor an infringement on his personal liberty, but a move intentioned to hurt him or even torture him to death. We have not given up on achieving justice and hope that the judges in the second trial will recognize this,” she added.
Physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the frontrunner among the pan-green candidates aspiring to contest the Taipei mayoral election, said the public feels the defendants were punished too lightly, adding that after reading the verdict, he could not find truth in it.
Meanwhile, an attorney for the highest-ranking official in the case, former 542nd Brigade commander Major General Shen Wei-chih (沈威志), yesterday said that Shen maintained his innocence and would appeal the guilty ruling with the High Court.
The court sentenced Shen to six months in prison for abusing his authority in confining Hung Chung-chiu.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS