Family of dead Army corporal files complaint in Taoyuan
CNA 2013-07-24 15:41
Hung Chung-chiu's sister Hung Tzu-yung. (Photo/Fan Yang-kuang)
The family of an Army conscript who died under suspicious circumstances in early July filed a complaint with the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office in northern Taiwan on Tuesday asking it to press criminal charges against those responsible for the soldier's death.
Corporal Hung Chung-chiu's sister, Hung Tzu-yung, accompanied by a team of lawyers, filed the complaint and expressed the hope that intervention in the military investigation by civilian prosecutors can help speed up the inquiry.
Wellington Ku, the head of the family's legal team, said the complaint did not identify any specific defendant but was targeting several crimes, including destruction of evidence, document forgery and manslaughter.
Taoyuan prosecutors have appeared reluctant to investigate the circumstances surrounding Hung's death because the probe is currently in the hands of military prosecutors.
The Taoyuan office decided on Sunday, however, to look into allegations that evidence was destroyed in the military confinement facility in Taoyuan where Hung was being held because military law does not cover that crime.
Ku hoped that Taoyuan prosecutors would go further and investigate more than just the destruction of evidence suspicions.
Because the case took place in Taoyuan's 269 Brigade, the office should take the initiative to investigate any incident as long as a suspicious crime is involved, Ku said.
Hung's family filed the complaint after watching a surveillance video from the 269 Brigade detention facility when Hung was there, hoping it would shed light on how Hung was treated and whether he was pushed beyond what his body could handle.
But the viewing session, that lasted from Monday afternoon to 5 am on Tuesday, seemed to leave the family with more questions than answers.
Hung's uncle, Hu Shih-ho, was especially disappointed by a missing 80-minute section of a surveillance video that would have shown Hung being put through strenuous exercises as part of his punishment on July 1.
Hu said he expected to see actual images after the Investigation Bureau said last Friday that it had "restored" the missing part of the video, but the contentious part of the video was still blank, according to the uncle.
Hu also questioned the appearance at a military hospital of a non-commissioned officer who allegedly helped expedite the results of a physical that Hung was required to take before being thrown into the brig.
The medical report, which normally takes days to process, was completed within hours in Hung's case, making it possible for him to be put in disciplinary confinement on June 28 for what was supposed to be a week-long stay.
Hu said the appearance at the hospital of Staff Sergeant Fan Tzou-hsien, one of four military officers who have been taken into custody so far by military prosecutors, was definitely suspicious.
The uncle also was worried that military personnel involved in the case still had the chance to destroy evidence and influence each other's testimony.
"The focus of the family is to keep related evidence intact and have a third party intervene in the investigation," Hu said.
Major General Tsao Chin-sheng, chief military prosecutor general, said that only one individual was involved in abusing Hung in the brig, but that the investigation would not be confined to any rank in the military.
"We'll definitely be responsible in handling the case," Tsao said.
The military's supreme prosecutors office said on Tuesday it would file a countersuit against a court's ruling not to detain the deputy company commander in the Army's 524 Armor Brigade in Hsinchu county in northern Taiwan, where Hung was posted before being detained.
Military prosecutors wanted to detain Liu Yen-chun because he allegedly used his position to obstruct the freedom of a subordinate and imposed punishment that was not allowed under the law.
The request was denied by a military court on Tuesday morning because of what the court said was the lack of any obvious violations.
Hung's death sparked a public outcry because of the blatant administrative flaws in the military's handling of the serviceman from the time he was charged with misconduct.
Most notably, he should not have been put in disciplinary confinement for his offense — carrying a camera-equipped phone on his military base.
As a result of the military investigation, four military officers, including Co Ho Chiang-chung, deputy commander of the 542 Armor Brigade, have been put in military custody to date.
But there remain suspicions of a military cover-up in dealing with Hung's death, and Hung's family and lawyers representing them have repeatedly asked civilian prosecutors to intervene in the investigation.
