Chen Wen-chen

Chen Wen-chen (Chinese: 陳文成; pinyin: Chén Wénchéng; 30 January 1950 – 2 July 1981), sometimes romanized as Chen Wen-cheng, was a Taiwanese mathematician. He was an assistant professor of mathematics (specializing in probability and statistics) at Carnegie Mellon University who died under mysterious circumstances. After the conclusion of his third year of teaching, he returned to his native Taiwan for a vacation. He was instructed not to leave Taiwan on his scheduled departure date. Members of Taiwan's secret police, the Garrison Command, detained and interrogated him for twelve hours on 2 July 1981, and his body was found on the campus of National Taiwan University the next day. The subsequent autopsy reported his death was due to a fall. Chen's death and the earlier massacre of Lin Yi-hsiung's family are cited as late examples of White Terror dissident suppression activities in Taiwan, although the case remains unsolved and the Garrison Command maintains it had nothing to do with his death. In 2020, the Transitional Justice Commission released a report concluding that Chen was most likely killed by state security agencies.