By Defend the Defenders, December 22, 2016
Han Duc Long, another Vietnamese victim of miscarriage of justice, has escaped capital punishment and was released after spending 11 years in jail on charges of murder and rape.
The 57-year-old man from the northern province of Bac Giang was released on December 20 thanks to his consistent family’s petitions in favor of his innocence.
Mr. Long was arrested in October 2005, four months after the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in his village in Phuc Son commune, Tan Yen district.
Investigators named him the key suspect basing on accusations by a woman and her daughter in the village that Long had raped both of them before.
During the investigation, Long confessed to raping and killing the child, but later was adamant that his confession was extracted under torture.
During his trial in 2007, he pleaded “not guilty” but the court sentenced him to death. Over the years, he continued to challenge the verdict. Three appeals trials did not clear his name, but at least no execution date was set.
His wife Nguyen Thi Mai, 46, also kept fighting for justice. The farmer said her husband was innocent because she was with him at the time of the crime, an alibi that she mentioned time and again in letters sent out to various agencies, on a nearly monthly basis.
“I never received a response but I always believed that one day someone would read one of them,” Mai said.
In 2014, the Supreme People’s Court ordered a new investigation into the case. In the course of the next two years, investigators reexamined the case. He was kept in prison the whole time.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in Bac Giang decided to drop all the charges against Long and to release him. It is unclear whether Long will demand compensation.
Mai, who was not informed about her husband’s release in advance, said life for her and their two children had been difficult over the last decade. “We became so poor,” she said. “People refused to lend me money because they thought I could never repay them.”
Bac Giang’s justice system already raised questions in late 2013 when Nguyen Thanh Chan, now 55, was released after serving 10 years in prison on wrongful murder charges. His wife’s investigation reportedly forced the real murderer to turn himself in.
Chan also complained that police officers threatened to kill him and forced him to plead guilty.
Miscarriage of justice has made the headlines in Vietnam over the past few years.
Most recent data released by Vietnam’s top legislative body, the National Assembly, in mid-2015 showed that at least 71 people had been wrongfully charged or convicted in the country from October 2011 to September 2014. Most of the cases were about murder, robbery and child rape.
Investigators dropped 31 of the cases after finding that the suspects were innocent. In 12 additional cases, they failed to find evidence to support the charges within the given timeframe.
Prosecutors dropped nine cases themselves and appeals courts overturned criminal verdicts against 19 convicts.
Torture is rampant in Vietnam although the country signed UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
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December 24, 2016
Death Sentence Overturned for 11-Yr-Jailed Vietnam Victim of Justice Miscarriage
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
By Defend the Defenders, December 22, 2016
Han Duc Long, another Vietnamese victim of miscarriage of justice, has escaped capital punishment and was released after spending 11 years in jail on charges of murder and rape.
The 57-year-old man from the northern province of Bac Giang was released on December 20 thanks to his consistent family’s petitions in favor of his innocence.
Mr. Long was arrested in October 2005, four months after the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in his village in Phuc Son commune, Tan Yen district.
Investigators named him the key suspect basing on accusations by a woman and her daughter in the village that Long had raped both of them before.
During the investigation, Long confessed to raping and killing the child, but later was adamant that his confession was extracted under torture.
During his trial in 2007, he pleaded “not guilty” but the court sentenced him to death. Over the years, he continued to challenge the verdict. Three appeals trials did not clear his name, but at least no execution date was set.
His wife Nguyen Thi Mai, 46, also kept fighting for justice. The farmer said her husband was innocent because she was with him at the time of the crime, an alibi that she mentioned time and again in letters sent out to various agencies, on a nearly monthly basis.
“I never received a response but I always believed that one day someone would read one of them,” Mai said.
In 2014, the Supreme People’s Court ordered a new investigation into the case. In the course of the next two years, investigators reexamined the case. He was kept in prison the whole time.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in Bac Giang decided to drop all the charges against Long and to release him. It is unclear whether Long will demand compensation.
Mai, who was not informed about her husband’s release in advance, said life for her and their two children had been difficult over the last decade. “We became so poor,” she said. “People refused to lend me money because they thought I could never repay them.”
Bac Giang’s justice system already raised questions in late 2013 when Nguyen Thanh Chan, now 55, was released after serving 10 years in prison on wrongful murder charges. His wife’s investigation reportedly forced the real murderer to turn himself in.
Chan also complained that police officers threatened to kill him and forced him to plead guilty.
Miscarriage of justice has made the headlines in Vietnam over the past few years.
Most recent data released by Vietnam’s top legislative body, the National Assembly, in mid-2015 showed that at least 71 people had been wrongfully charged or convicted in the country from October 2011 to September 2014. Most of the cases were about murder, robbery and child rape.
Investigators dropped 31 of the cases after finding that the suspects were innocent. In 12 additional cases, they failed to find evidence to support the charges within the given timeframe.
Prosecutors dropped nine cases themselves and appeals courts overturned criminal verdicts against 19 convicts.
Torture is rampant in Vietnam although the country signed UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.