Vietnam court jails policeman for 12 years for beating suspect to death

By RFA Vietnamese2024.11.21

Read more on this topic in Vietnamese.

A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced a former police lieutenant to 12 years in prison for “corporal punishment” that led to the death of a suspect, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

The former police officer, Vo Thanh Dat, was convicted of beating to death a suspected thief, Trieu Quang Binh, at a police detention center in the southern city. Dat was the warden of the police lock-up.

Two other inmates at the detention center were convicted of helping Dat beat the prisoner, who the court was told had been causing trouble in his cell, the newspaper reported.

The two others convicted in the beating death, Quach Bao Lam and Lu Hoai Thanh, had been sharing a cell with Binh.

They were jailed for eight-and-a-half-years and seven-and-a-half-years respectively for their part in his death.

The court heard that Binh had surrendered to police and was being held at the detention center in Ho Chi Minh City in February 2022.

Dat took Binh out of his cell three times along with the other inmates, saying he was “acting abnormally.” Dat, Lam and Thanh then beat Binh severely. An autopsy found he died of respiratory failure due to acute pulmonary edema and had multiple soft tissue injuries.

A Hanoi-based lawyer, who didn’t want to be identified for security reasons, said the sentence was light. He said the three could have been charged with “intentional murder” with a maximum penalty of life or the death penalty.

Dat’s sentence was the lowest for “using corporal punishment,” which ranges from 12 to 20 years or life imprisonment if it results in death, he added.

The jury said Dat’s behavior seriously harmed the reputation of the police and violated the lives, health, and dignity of others. In mitigation, the court noted his “sincere confession and repentance.” It was also Dat’s first crime and the victim’s family asked for leniency.

In August, the United Nations published a report on Vietnam’s implementation of the U.N. Convention against Torture, saying that the country had issued 3 laws, 11 decrees and 68 circulars to prevent acts such as torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

However, in the past four years there have been at least nine cases of suspects dying during interrogation reported by state media, many with signs of torture.

Translated by Hanh Seide for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.