Family members of Republic of China Air Force staff sergeant Tsai Hsueh-liang (蔡學良), who died of a gunshot wound to the head at a firing range in 2008, yesterday presented new evidence and demanded that authorities carry out ballistics testing to determine the real cause of death.
Tsai’s mother, Yu Jui-ming (尤瑞敏), said she is requesting further investigation, because the new evidence contradicted the military’s initial finding, which said Tsai committed suicide.
Over the past seven years of judicial proceedings and relentless efforts by Tsai’s family to seek justice, the Ministry of National Defense has insisted the death was a suicide, with Tsai pulling the trigger of a T65K2 rifle after turning the weapon on himself.
With lawyers and other family members at her side at yesterday’s news briefing, Yu pointed to medical reports and photographs, which showed that Tsai’s fatal head wound was inconsistent with a shot from a T65K2 rifle, and more likely the result of a round fired from a handgun.
Citing inconsistencies in the military coroner’s report, Yu said she was sure her son did not kill himself, but believed he was murdered by a fellow officer bearing a grudge, shot at close range in the head by a handgun.
“We demand that the judiciary and the defense ministry conduct forensic ballistics testing with a T65K2 rifle and recreate the crime scene, so it can be determined how Tsai died and what really happened,” Yu said.
Despite her repeated demands over past years, the ministry has refused to perform ballistics testing on the T65K2 rifle, Yu said, which she said pointed to a possible cover-up by the military to hastily close the case.
Yu got some consolation last month when a court reversed a lower court’s decision by ruling against the military, attributing it to a case of “accidental death,” and ordered the air force to pay Tsai’s family NT$1.48 million (US$48,106) in compensation.
However, she said that her son’s life was too precious to her, and that the compensation does not even cover the travel and various other expenses in her efforts to seek justice.
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