Three detained in controversial military death case
Central News Agency
2013-08-23 10:43 PM
Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) Three Army officers indicted for crimes related to the death of an Army conscript were ordered detained Friday, just days after the case was handed over to a civilian court under sweeping reforms to the military justice system.
The Taoyuan District Court ordered the detention of the accused because of the high degree of suspicion that they were involved in the crime and the possibility that they colluded and tampered with evidence.
Col. Ho Chiang-chung, deputy commander of the Army's 542 Armor Brigade, Hsu Hsin-cheng, a company commander with the brigade, and Staff Sgt. Fan Tso-hsien were among 18 officers indicted by military prosecutors on July 31 on charges related to the death of Army Corporal Hung Chung-chiu.
The three have been charged with offenses against personal freedom and imposing a punishment on a subordinate beyond legal norms, among others, for improperly transferring Hung, who served in the 542 Armor Brigade, to a military confinement facility in late June for an offense that merited nothing more than an administrative reprimand.
Hung died of heatstroke on July 4, just two days before his year of compulsory military service was due to end, after being forced to do strenuous exercises in sweltering heat in the confinement facility.
The three were briefly detained but a military court granted them bail on Aug. 1, deeming their crimes as not serious.
Military prosecutors appealed and the Taiwan High Court voided the bail order a week ago.
Under the reforms that were triggered by the incident and angry public reactions, the trial of the case and all other future crimes committed by military personnel during peacetime were turned over to civilian courts beginning on Aug. 15.
(By Chiu Chun-chin, Wang Chao-yu, Angela Tsai and Jay Chen)
