President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) on Thursday offered their condolences and promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the death of a Marine Corps lieutenant who was found hanging from a tree on Tuesday.
The family of the soldier, surnamed Cheng (鄭), have accused his commanding officers of a cover-up by reporting it as a suicide.
Cheng, 23, was a platoon leader serving in the Republic of China Marine Corps 99th Brigade in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District (林園), the main force of marine combat troops in southern Taiwan.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
Brigade officials and medical staff at first treated it as a suicide, reporting that Cheng’s body was found hanging from a banyan tree within the confines of the barracks by fellow soldiers on Tuesday morning.
Cheng’s mother and sister rejected the suicide claim, telling reporters that Cheng had in an earlier conversation and phone calls told them that he was bullied while in training, with frequent verbal abuse particularly from his company commander.
While still on her state visit to Eswatini, Tsai issued a statement on Thursday expressing her condolences to the family.
“I am very concerned about this case, and have a great feeling of sorrow and regret about what happened,” she said. “We have asked the Ministry of National Defense to investigate and clarify the incident, and fully assist Cheng’s family.”
Chiu told reporters he would supervise the investigation and promised to find answers.
“We shall get to the bottom of this case, and will hand out punishment as needed,” he said.
Commanding officers at the 99th Brigade on Wednesday said they had formed a team to conduct an official investigation.
“Lieutenant Cheng showed no abnormal behavior at regular times, and fellow soldiers did not observe anything unusual prior to the incident. We have not yet found a suicide note and the investigation is still ongoing,” they said in a statement.
Cheng’s mother and sister said that Cheng had told them he was bullied by his company commanders, who did not like him for some reason and pressured him to resign.
Formerly serving in the navy, Cheng signed up for the Marine Corps this year, where he trained in the 99th Brigade for only four months before his death.
Cheng’s mother refused to believe her son had committed suicide and said: “We had phone calls earlier this week and he spoke in a cool manner, without any inkling of taking his own life. He even said he would take a leave shortly to come home and see his family.”
She also showed reporters her conversations with Cheng, including messages over Line.
They also included text messages between Cheng and his company commander he forwarded to her.
The messages included: “Do you not understand Chinese?” “I have no need to listen to your useless garbage talk,” and “You have been ineffective as a platoon leader and have handed out unfair division of work to your subordinates.”
Cheng’s mother also said she would file a lawsuit against the brigade officers for allegedly moving Cheng’s body and making changes to the scene to make the incident look like a suicide.
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