February 6, 2015

Vietnam Court Suspends Trial against Policemen Beating Suspect to Death

by • [Human Rights]

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The 96-page report named 28 Vietnamese citizens who died while being detained in police stations, of those, 14 deaths were caused by police violence as authorities admitted, four from unexplained causes, six were allegedly suicides and four allegedly from illness during detention, not included victims of political dissidents, according to the HRW’s statistics during the period.
By Vu Quoc Ngu | Feb 06, 2015
The People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Thap has decided to suspend a trial against two local police officers who were accused of beating a theft suspect to death during interrogation, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
The case needs additional investigation to make clear roles of police investigators Huynh Ngoc Tong and Pham Xuan Binh in causing the death of Nguyen Tan Thanh, 29, who was detained for property stealing.
According to the indictment, Tong refused to confess torturing Thanh, the newspaper said, adding the evidences and statements of involved people showed that Tong and Binh brutally kicked Thanh and beat him with baton, causing the death of the suspect on Nov 17, 2012, one day after being arrested.
The autopsy showed Thanh’s death was caused by injuries in important parts of his body.
Vietnam has vowed to deal with police torture which is a systematic problem in the communist nation. Last year, the country ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which is expected to halt police torture in the one-party communist nation.
In its report titled “Public Insecurity: Deaths in Custody and Police Brutality in Vietnam” released on Sept 16, 2014, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlights cases of police brutality that resulted in deaths and serious injuries of people in custody between August 2010 and July 2014.
Accordingly, police torture occurred in 44 provinces and five largest cities out of 63 provinces and cities in the communist nation.
The 96-page report named 28 Vietnamese citizens who died while being detained in police stations, of those, 14 deaths were caused by police violence as authorities admitted, four from unexplained causes, six were allegedly suicides and four allegedly from illness during detention, not included victims of political dissidents, according to the HRW’s statistics during the period.
Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang admitted that 19 police officers had been fired for torturing suspects between 2011 and 2013. During the three-year period, 183 others were disciplined for violating investigative procedures and regulations through dismissal, demotion or reassignment.
However, those policemen found guilty in beating suspects to death received light sentences, triggering public concerns that police officers have privileges to escape from capital punishment.
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