Four Vietnamese Jailed for Beating Drug User to Death in Rehabilitation Facility

Defendant Nguyen Duc Toan (second from right) and other attackers at a trial on Nov. 16

by Vu Quoc Ngu, Nov. 17, 2015

The People’s Court in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi on Nov. 16 sentenced four people to between 13 years and 19 years in prison for beating to death one drug user in a rehabilitation facility two years ago, state media has reported.

Nguyen Duc Toan, a serviceman of the Hanoi community-based Rehabilitation Center, and drug users Quach Duy Thep, Dang Dinh Hieu and Le Thanh Xuan were found guilty of causing fatal injuries to Bui Van K., 29, a drug user who served compulsory rehabilitation at the center.

Two other servicemen Dinh Thanh Tung and Nguyen Thanh Hai working at the center were sentenced to 16 months and 20 months, respectively, of probation for negligence, according to the Phap luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh newspaper reported Tuesday.

According to the court verdict, in the early hours of Aug. 9, 2013, K. tried to escape from the center. Serviceman Toan ordered drug user Thep to chase him. After catching K., the duo brought him to a closed room where they handcuffed him to a window and beat him with baton, shoes and footgear.

Hieu and Thanh, two drug users from the adjacent room came and joined Toan and Thep to torture K. while servicemen Tung and Hai looked on.

The perpetrators stopped the beating when they found that K. fell unconscious. They brought him to the center’s medical clinic but K. died before receiving first aid.

The autopsy showed that K. died due to numerous fatal injuries caused by the beating.

Vietnam applies mandatory rehab policies to some groups of drug users in a total of 150 rehabilitation centers across the country. Such forced detoxification method has drawn international criticism.

Drug users are now present in all 63 cities and provinces across Vietnam, said a report of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs presented at the ongoing session of the National Assembly, the country’s highest legislative body.

The country has more than 204,000 drug users with an annual average growth of 7%, the ministry said. Up to 72% of drug addicts use heroin while 14.5% use amphetamine, it said.

Human rights activists said drug users are treated inhumanely in rehabilitation facilities. They are forced to perform hard labor and live under severe conditions despite their families having to pay high fees for their treatment there.

In addition, they are subjected to torture by servicemen and other drug users.

The effectiveness of rehabilitation is under question as drug can be bought from servicemen, some sources claimed.

Last month, Do Dang Du, 17-year-old boy in Chuong My district, Hanoi, died from severe injuries during custody in Hanoi’s Detention Facility No. 3. The Hanoi police said Du was beaten by other detainees, however, the victim’s family and its lawyers said the police’s explanation contains many disputed or unsubstantiated assertions.

Between October 2011 and September 2014, 226 detainees and prisoners died in police stations. Police said their deaths were mostly caused by suicides and illness, however, families of the victims suspect that police torture and inhumane treatments were the main reasons causing the deaths.

Vietnam ratified the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. However, the situation has remained unimproved as around ten people have been founded dead or severely injured in police stations nationwide so far this year.

Only a few police perpetrators have been punished with light sentences, human rights activists noted.