226 Vietnamese Die in Police Detaining Facilities in 2011-2014: Police General

 

 

By Vu Quoc Ngu | Defend the Defenders

Mar 21, 2015

As many as 226 Vietnamese suspected of committing crimes were found dead during detention in police stations between Oct 1, 2011 and Sept 30, 2014, said Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Luong of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security.

Suicides and diseases were the main causes of the deaths, Gen. Luong said at a meeting of the National Assembly (NA)’s Standing Committee on legal miscarriage in Hanoi on Mar 19.

Legislator Do Manh Hung, vice chairman of the NA’s Committee for Social Affairs, questioned the conditions of the police detaining facilities which are not safe for suspects. He asked the police forces to clarify who died from committing suicides and who were hang up.

It is not convincing to say that suicides and diseases are the main causes for their deaths, said NA’s Chairman of the Legal Committee Nguyen Van Hien.

Other legislators demanded the police forces to report exactly the number of people died by committing suicides or fight and Gen. Luong promised to add statistics in the next meeting.

Gen. Luong said Vietnam’s police forces detained more than 200,000 people for crime allegation in the 2012-2014 period.

During the period, police investigation agencies received 46 petitions accusing police investigators of conducting tortures, said Gen. Luong said, adding three of accusation were correct and 37 accusations were rejected.

Phu Yen province-based Legislator Nguyen Thai Hoc asked the Ministry of Public Security to explain the cases on which 548 people were released without being charged after certain period of detention.

If these people were arrested by mistake, how the police forces compensate, Mr. Hoc asked.

Legislator Le Thi Nga, vice chairwoman of the Legal Committee said the police abuse of arrests means that the police forces prioritize interrogation. They should conduct investigation to find other evidences, she said.

NA’s Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said the Ministry of Justice should control detention facilities which are currently managed by the Ministry of Public Security. The presence of lawyers and cameras during interrogation will also be effective measures to deal with police torture, Mr. Luu noted.

Police torture is systemic in Vietnam where police forces are considered the most important forces to maintain the one-party regime.

According to the Human Rights Watch, in many cases, those Vietnamese killed in police custody were being held for minor infractions. In an August 2012 case, police beat Nguyen Mau Thuan to death in Hanoi after arresting him less than three hours earlier in relation to a minor dispute in his neighborhood. In August 2010, police beat and tear-gassed Le Phuc Hung to death in Gia Lai province while holding him for allegedly stealing water pipes.

Police frequently provided causes for these deaths that strained credulity and gave the appearance of systematic cover-ups. The police alleged that dozens of otherwise mentally and physically healthy people committed suicide by hanging or other methods, the New York-based human rights body said in its 96-page report titled “Public Insecurity: Deaths in Custody and Police Brutality in Vietnam” released on Aug 25 last year.

 

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