Judicial reform advocates, including the Taiwan Jury Association, yesterday called on the government to restore a government body through which people could file complaints about military abuse and other injustices, saying that bullying incidents in the military have continued, with up to 20 cases reported each year.
Association chairman Jerry Cheng (鄭文龍) presided over a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, along with attorney and former judge Chang Ching (張靜), and Yu Jui-min (尤瑞敏), the mother of air force staff sergeant Tsai Hsueh-liang (蔡學良).
Tsai died of a gunshot wound to the head at a target practice range in May 2008. Yu believes her son was murdered by a fellow soldier.
Photo: CNA
Cheng said the Executive Yuan had set up the Military Injustice Petitions Committee in 2013 — but it stopped operating after one year.
“It must be restored now to protect the rights of conscripts and volunteer soldiers, and to grant it the power of investigation to find the truth, and restore justice for victims and their families,” Cheng said.
“Taiwan needs a strong military to safeguard our nation, but managing the troops with disciplinary measures must be reasonable,” he said.
“Most parents support having young people enlist and receive training, but they cannot accept it when their children go to serve the nation, but come back as corpses... There have been deaths allegedly caused by bullying and beating by fellow soldiers, and these are still happening today,” he added.
Cheng added that he would ask lawmakers to initiate legislation to protect the rights of and seek compensation for victims on injustices in the military.
Yu said her son was killed during a training session at a shooting range in Taitung County.
A military investigation ruled it as a suicide and closed the case.
Yu said that medical reports and other findings indicated that her son most likely was killed by a handgun belonging to a fellow officer.
“Next month, on May 9, it will be the 13th anniversary of my son’s death. Over the past 13 years, we have not stopped our efforts to demand truth and justice. We were able to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who promised to reopen an investigation, so we were hopeful,” Yu said.
However, she said she has been disappointed, although the case has been reopened.
“After one year, we had only attended two trial hearings. The prosecutors acted arrogantly and did not bring documents about the case to the hearing. It seemed like they wanted the investigation to drag on,” Yu said.
Yu’s lawyer, Chang Ching, said he found that military officials had started to cover up the case.
On the day Tsai was killed, as medics and an ambulance arrived two hours after the shooting, “the blood at the scene had already coagulated. We have to ask, what were the officials doing during those two hours? We believe they were working on colluding their testimony, to tell everyone that Tsai killed himself with his own rifle,” Chang said.
He also called for the restoration of the committee to give soldiers a medium for filing complaints.
If not, few parents will be willing to send their sons for military service, as they are afraid they might be bullied or even killed, he said.
“If these incidents continue to happen and people have no place to seek redress and restore justice, how can Taiwan’s military be strong enough to face the powerful military might of China?” he asked.
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