Suspect dies by hanging in police custody, 20th this year

RNVN - November 5, 2014

A suspect in a theft case was found hung to death in police custody on Nov. 3 in Hai Phong, Vietnam’s third largest city. The death marks at least the 20th known case of detainees dying in unclear circumstances while being held by local Vietnamese police. Most were classified as suicides by hanging by official investigators.

The victim in this case was Nguyen Tung Lam (Nguyễn Tùng Lâm), 30, who was caught riding away in someone else’s electric bicycle in a rural part of Hai Phong. Bystanders and traffic police captured Lam and he was taken to the local commune administration’s office at 11am Oct 31. The police questioned Lam and held him overnight.

His family was notified, his father brought Lam food for dinner and, district police head Col. Tran Quang Hop (Trần Quang Hợp) told reporters, everything was normal throughout the night.

By morning, however, when the guard on duty came back from his restroom break, Lam was found hanging on the window bars “at a low position, his feet not hanging,” according to Col. Hop. Lam was declared dead at the hospital at 7am Nov. 1.

Lam was hanging by his belt, the police said. He left behind a wife and a 9-year old child.

This case closely follows a case within the same week in coastal Binh Thuan province where another man was also found hanging by a drawstring from his shorts.

Lam’s case marks the 20th known time just this year where a person dies in police custody.

In September, Human Rights Watch issued a 96-page report detailing cases of death and injury in the hands of Vietnamese police, and found them “pervasive” and occurring “throughout Vietnam.”

 

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