Authorities in Hanoi will bring to the court 29 suspects accused of “murder” and “objecting on-duty state officials” in the serious case in Dong Tam commune, My Duc district on Jan 9 this year in which three police officers were said to be killed, will. The first-instance hearing is scheduled on September 7, the state-controlled media has reported.
“On the morning of August 25, information from the Hanoi People’s Court said that the case will be brought to trial from September 7, which is expected to last 10 days. The chairman of the hearing panel is judge Truong Viet Toan – deputy chief of the Hanoi People’s Court Criminal Court,” the Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reported on August 25.
“The trial panel consists of 5 people, the presiding judge is judge Truong Viet Toan, deputy chief justice of the Criminal Court, Hanoi People’s Court. There are more than 30 lawyers registered to participate in the protection of rights and legal interest of the defendants in court,” Tuoi Tre Online said the same day.
“29 defendants were brought to trial for ‘murder’ and ‘resisting on-duty state officials’ charges. Of which, 25 people were tried for ‘murder’ including: Le Dinh Cong, Bui Viet Hieu, Nguyen Van Tuyen, Le Dinh Chuc, and Le Dinh Doanh.”
Description of the case by the state-controlled newspapers
About the three police officers who were “killed,” the Vietnam News Agency, also on Tuesday mentioned Le Dinh Kinh, a former party and government official, Dong Tam commune police, who is said to be the leader of the local opposition group.
“At the beginning of January this year, when knowing that the Hanoi police force would return to Dong Tam commune, Kinh and many other residents held a meeting at his house on January 6-8 to direct opposing and murdering the police force. On the afternoon of January 8, under the direction of Kinh, Cong asked his comrades to carry weapons including iron tubes fitted with knives, sickles, gas bombs, containers Stone bricks gathered at Kinh’s house to attack the police force.”
“In the morning of January 9, when the police force came to the gate of Hoanh village, Dong Tam commune (about 50 meters from Kinh’s house) to protect the target according to the proposed plan, Bui Van Nien and Le Dinh Quan alerted other subjects who used bricks, petrol bombs, and knives to attack the police force, causing 3 police officers and soldiers, Nguyen Huy Thinh, Pham Cong Huy, and Duong Duc Hoang Quan, to fall into the pit. At that time, Chuc told Doanh to pour gasoline from a can to a pot so that Chuc poured into the hole and lit a fire, causing all three comrades to die.”
“At that time, the police working group discovered that Le Dinh Kinh was holding a grenade and shouted in protest, so they shot to kill him.”
VOV’s website describes why four people died in the incident, including three police officers and Mr. Le Dinh Kinh:
“When failed to persuade, the working group of 3 police officers named Nguyen Huy Thinh, Pham Cong Huy, and Duong Duc Hoang Quan were instructed to approach the first floor of Le Dinh Hoi’s house to move to the second floor of Le Dinh Chuc’s house for control. When 3 officers moved from the windows on the 2nd floor of Le Dinh Hoi’s house to reach the roof of Chuc’s house, they were attacked by the subjects using iron tubes and throwing many bricks and stones to make the trio fell.”
“Three police officers fell from above into a 4m deep hole located between the houses of Le Dinh Hoi and Le Dinh Chuc and were injured. Seeing that, Le Dinh Chuc and Le Dinh Doanh took a can of gasoline about 5 liters and poured it into the basin. Then the two subjects kicked the pot into the hole, lit a fire. The two subjects repeatedly poured gasoline into the pit, leading to the death of three comrades Thinh, Huy, and Quan.”
“The subjects continued to oppose fiercely. The functional forces used smoke grenades and sniffing dogs to gradually encircle the siege. The number of weapons of the protesting force was over and many subjects did not know how to use weapons like grenades.”
“When the encirclement closed, the remaining key subjects gathered at Le Dinh Kinh’s house. The functional force used smoke grenades to throw at the house. Le Dinh Kinh holding a grenade said loudly “If you storm in, I will throw grenades.” After many unsuccessful persuasion, in order to protect policemen, policemen were forced to shoot and kill Le Dinh Kinh. Kinh still has grenades in his hand.”
What did the lawyers say?
On August 25, 2020, a lawyer in the defense lawyers group for Dong Tam land petitioners told BBC News Vietnamese that the lawyers had only known information about the trial from the state media and it is not clear why the government media knew in advance that lawyers were protecting the defendants in the case have not been informed.
“Actually, there are no problems according to the provisions of the law, but currently lawyers have not been officially informed, but only receive this information in the state media. The decision to go to trial is in writing, the lawyers have not received any written letters from the court,” lawyer Le Van Luan told the BBC from Hanoi.
“The press work is a matter of court, but usually information needs to be done at the same time and lawyers need to be proactive in the plan, but this case does not understand why. How can the media report first, while lawyers do not have any information about the trial. In our opinion, the issue of access is not very guaranteed, in public terms equal.”
On the issue of access to case files and additional comments on new information received in the press about the first instance session scheduled to open on September 7, lawyer Le Van Luan said:
“The attorneys were allowed to make full copies of the case documentation about two weeks ago, but the fact that the statements of the defendants were initially published on television was an indication of the failure to comply with the law.”
“Right the way the state media and the authorities have just announced the first instance trial, we think the state media and press are doing their wrong functions.
“The state-controlled media reported the case with very specific description of the crime. This violates the law because all people remain innocent before being convicted by a court. The behavior of the state-controlled newspapers will harm the proceedings, damages the rights of citizens and the defendants.”
“And that is being used very thoroughly, especially in this case, almost as a pre-conviction in all the papers and that violates the right to a fair trial and right , the principle of innocent judgment is very important under the Criminal Procedure Law that any accused can enjoy.”
“This, we think, also has to do with a whole social perception system and legal awareness.”
On this occasion, lawyer Le Van Luan also informed more about the health status of the accused and how the lawyers have access to their clients:
“Currently, the defendants’ health is basically good, before that some people were seriously injured, for example, Mr. Chuc, Mr. Cong, and Huy were all injured, Mr. Chuc was most seriously injured, according to them. Besides, Mr. Hieu was also burned.”
“We don’t have all the information on the defendants, but some of the people I mentioned were among the injured, some of them can only walk with the assistance of others for interrogation. When we entered the prison, we requested for medical care and measures to care for the accused.”
“I must also add that lawyers have been finding difficulties in getting access to and meeting with our clients,” lawyer Le Van Luan noted.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
Source: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-53903946
