洪仲丘 (Hong Zhong-Qiu), a ROC NSF army corporal who was serving his compulsory military service, was put in confinement from 1 July 2013, and tortured to death on 3 July 2013 just 3 days before honorary discharge (ORD).
Hong's punishment was far more
serious than he deserved. Why was that? Why did Hong’s superiors want
to torture him so badly?
Comments on Superiors Lead to Hong’s Death?
According to local media, Hong and other soldiers were invited to a
gathering by his Brigade Commander, Major General Wei-Zhi Shen, to
share their thoughts before they were discharged. The gathering was
supposed to be confidential, but Hong’s comments on his direct
superiors, Master Sergeant Chen and Staff Sergeant Fang, were
leaked. And this is believed to be the cause of Hong’s torture, and
eventually death.
A Gang of Conspirators
When Chen and Fang learned about Hong’s comments, they decided to teach
him a lesson, and Hong happened to be found carrying a camera phone.
Chen and Fang followed the “proper” procedure: convening an internal
review meeting, submitting the case for their Company Leader’s approval
before sending it to the Brigade Commander for final decision. The
procedure appeared to be followed, but in fact it was manipulated.
First, the internal review meeting was reported to include career
soldiers only, and Hong was not given the chance, which he should be
according to law, to respond to the charges, and he did not sign on the
meeting minutes, which is also required by law. The case was then sent
to the company leader, who was reluctant to approve at first. As a
result, Cheng and Fang went to the Deputy Brigade Commander, Colonel
Jiang-Chung He, and asked him to push the company leader. According to
the press, He said to the company leader: “I want Hong in confinement
tomorrow. It’s either you or him.” Failing to resist such pressure, the
company leader signed off, and finally the Brigade Commander approved,
too.
Even so, under normal circumstances, Hong should not have been put in
confinement. As a rule of thumb, it takes around 7 days to process a
soldier for confinement. The process includes mental assessment and
physical examination. And, by the way, Hong was supposed to be
discharged and became a civilian three after the Brigade Commander’s
approval. However, Hong’s assessment result came out less than one work
day, and he was put in confinement immediately. The local news said
that the military hospital that conducted Hong’s assessment was also
reluctant to “expedite” Hong’s assessment results, but, once again, the
Deputy Brigade Commander He made a phone call, and all of a sudden,
Hong was sent to confinement. Right now, it is suspected that the
hospital did not follow the protocol and was bribed by Chen and Fang.
Last Hope of Life Diminished as SOS Message Not Responded
After Hong was put in confinement, he was tortured with excessive
physical workout under the sun, and was not given sufficient amount of
water. Hong sent text messages to Brigade Commander Shen and asked for
help, but no response. After three days of torture, Hong finally
collapsed. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, and the doctor who tried
to resuscitate Hong later said that when Hong was sent to the
hospital, his body temperature was 44 degrees Celsius. To put it in
perspective, 45 degrees Celsius is the highest temperate that a normal
person can bear when you take a hot shower. And now imagine such hot
water running around in Hong’s body.
The autopsy report confirms Hong’s cause of death was disseminated
intravascular coagulation, or DIC, which was caused by a severe heat
stroke in Hong’s case. All of which could’ve been prevented if Hong had
been given sufficient amount of water intake. In fact, there were a
couple of other soldiers in the same confinement room with Hong, but
none of them were “trained” as much as Hong.
Court Martial Not Trusted by Hong’s Family
Right now, the military prosecutors are investigating Hong’s death, and
Colonel He is now in custody. However, will they be impartial? During
the autopsy, Hong’s family insisted to have an outside coroner present.
Besides, some people demand the military prosecutors and court martial
should recuse themselves, and DA’s office or even the Special
Investigation Division should take over. Others believe the military
prosecutors are acting too slow, as the crucial part of the surveillance
tape in the confinement room- which is 30 minutes before Hong dropped
dead- is suspected to be erased. Right now, the hard-drive is sent to
Investigation Bureau to restore the data.
In the meantime, more and more Hong’s teammates are sharing information
with the press, either anonymously or not. It seems that the press is
providing the lead for the military prosecutors, instead of the
prosecutors looking for evidence themselves.
Hong Is Not the Only Victim
Since Hong’s death, other victims’ family came out and demanded
re-investigation of the deaths of their beloved ones. These family
members believed their sons were bullied, physically and mentally, in
the army, and most of the cases were closed with suicides. Over the past
few decades, Taiwan’s army has not been involved in major wars, and
still soldiers die every year. According to the law, adult males are
obligated to serve in the army, but for many people, their only hope is
to leave the army in one piece. Most of them share experience similar
to Hong’s, though to a very different degree. That’s why Hong’s death
has aroused such a widespread reaction from the public.
Right now, what people fear most is that the Ministry of National
Defense will try to cover things up and pick a few lower-ranking
soldiers as scapegoats – such as the only person in the case who tried
to save Hong, Lieutenant Meng-Ying Liu, a resident-doctor-to-be after
his compulsory military service. He is now being investigated by the
military prosecutors.
Take the Streets on July 20
Now, not just Hong’s family, but the general public are demanding for
truth and to hold Hong’s superiors responsible. The protest organized
by volunteers will be held on July 20 in front of the Ministry of
National Defense. However, more pressure is needed, especially from
international news media, to force the government to take further
actions and prevent the Ministry of Defense to cover things up. Truth
must be told, and more lives must be saved. - CNN
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saw their white protest (their military uniform color) in the news last week on tw channel
This has become big news in Taiwan now.
Everyday will report more air-time on all Taiwan TV channels on investigation progress.
TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwanese prosecutors indicted 18 military officials on Wednesday over the death of a young conscript who had been subjected to "cruel and abusive" punishment, in an incident that has sparked widespread anger.
Corporal Hung Chung-chiu died of heatstroke on July 4, just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service.
His family said he was forced to do excessive exercise as punishment for taking a smartphone onto his base.
Chief military prosecutor general Tsao Chin-sheng said the 24-year-old suffered from heatstroke after being subjected to "exercises that were unbearable, cruel and abusive" that resulted in his death from multiple organ failure.
Taiwan's chief military prosecutor, General Tsao Chin-sheng, speaks during a press conference in Taipei on July 31, 2013. Taiwan's prosecutors indicted 18 military officials in the death of a young conscript from alleged abuse that has sparked public outrage and cost the defence minister his job. Corporal Hung Chung-chiu died of heatstroke on July 4, just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service, a death his family says was do to excessive exercise as punishment for taking a smartphone onto his army base.
The death of the 24-year-old soldier has set off a wave of anger on the democratic island of 23 million people, further undermining the already unpopular administration of President Ma Ying-jeou, and raising hard questions about the future of the island’s military.
In addition, the corruption scandal of the sergeants and officers have been transferred to the TaoYuan Bureau for further investigation.
Any further updates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Hung_Chung-chiu
top ppl pushing the blame to the lower ppl
Story is similar to "A few good men" except that in real life, only the sergeants get convicted and the officers get a slap in the wrist. No Tom Cruise in real life and lots of dumb Demi Moores.
Who ordered the code red?
Originally posted by weasel1962:Story is similar to "A few good men" except that in real life, only the sergeants get convicted and the officers get a slap in the wrist. No Tom Cruise in real life and lots of dumb Demi Moores.
Who ordered the code red?
very nicely said. There is no Tom Cruise in real life.
Tonight 200,000 civilians protest outside Taiwan's Presidential Palace.
Originally posted by SC.Officer:Tonight 200,000 civilians protest outside Taiwan's Presidential Palace.
The Taiwanese are united and they are for justice. Singaporeans?
Anyone here saw the footage? Those heartless ones are to be blamed.