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
中天新聞
陸軍542旅下士洪仲丘被操死，根據542旅退伍弟兄，還有軍事評論家張友驊爆料，洪仲丘可能是擋了軍中集體貪污的財路才會被惡整。
因洪仲丘是運輸排士官，主要在核銷單據，上士范佐憲常需核銷修車單據，但屢次遇到洪仲丘審核嚴格，導致范佐憲認為洪仲丘刁難他，2人累積許多恩怨才會讓范佐憲抓到小把柄，就主導讓洪仲丘關禁閉。