One More Vietnamese Death-sentenced Prisoner Complains of Unfair Trial

 

By Vu Quoc Ngu - VNHRDs

Dec 23, 2014

A Vietnamese prisoner who sentenced to death and his family have submitted a petition, saying he was wrongfully sentenced to death in an unfair trail for killing a police officer and asking for suspension of the execution, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Hai Duong province-based Nguyen Van Chuong, 31, and two other friends were accused of killing Nguyen Van Sinh, a police officer in Haiphong city on July 14, 2008. According to the verdict, the trio had used knife to attack Sinh in Dong Hai ward in Hai An district in evening of the day.

The trio was arrested later and Mr. Chuong was given a death penalty while the two others Do Van Hoang and Vu Toan Trung were sentenced to life imprisonment and 23-year jail, respectively.

After the trial, Mr. Chuong, Mr. Hoang and Mr. Trung filed petitions to related authorities, saying that they were tortured by Haiphong police to commit the guilty. Mr. Chuong said he returned home in Hai Duong on July 14 and he met a number of relatives here.

However, their petitions were rejected and their sentences were confirmed by the Supreme People’s Court despite a proposal of the Supreme People’s Procuracy for re-investigation.

Over the past eight years, Mr. Chuong’s parents have sent numerous petitions to state agencies to complain about unfair hearings on which a number of evidence on favor of his son was ignored.

Lawyer Hoang Van Quanh, who defended Mr. Chuong in the trial and the appeal, said he was not given good conditions to protect his client. His 23-page defense statement for Mr. Chuong with 20 questions about the eligibility of accusation was rejected.

“It is baseless to convict Mr. Chuong for killing police officer Sinh,” lawyer Quanh said.

National Assembly legislator Le Dinh Khanh, member of the Hai Duong province’s Lawmaker delegation, said he found a number of issues regarding the case of Chuong. He also questioned the imparity of the hearings since the killed is a local police officer.

He pledged to report the case to the parliament’s Committee for Justice.

Mr. Chuong is the second prisoner sentenced to death who refused to admit the offence and complained of being tortured by police investigators in murder case on which there are signs of unfair hearing.

In early December, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang demanded the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuracy to verify the death sentence of Ho Duy Hai from the southern province of Long An, whose execution planned on Dec 5 was cancelled by the country’s president one day earlier.

The president ordered the two agencies to clarify whether there are justice miscarriages during investigation, prosecution and trials of Mr. Hai, who was sentenced to death seven years ago for killing two female post staffs in Nhi Thanh commune in Thu Thua district despite the lack of strong evidence against him.

According to the Doi Song & Phap Luat newspaper of the Vietnam Lawyers Association, there were serious violations during the investigation of the local police and the trials, including using fake evidence against Mr. Hai.

In Vietnam police have absolute power and the role of lawyers is limited. A number of people were wrongfully sentenced to death and heavy imprisonments in murder cases during the past decade.

Earlier this year, Nguyen Thanh Chan in the northern province of Bac Giang was released after ten years in prison on wrong accusation of killing one local. He demanded a compensation of VND10 billion ($500,000) for the wrong sentence and police torture as the real murder confessed his sin in the case.

Recently, Vietnam ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which is expected to halt police power abuse.

 

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