Victim of legal miscarriage Tran Van Them
By Vu Quoc Ngu, August 10, 2016
An 80-year-old man from Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Ninh has been seeking for being cleared from allegation of killing his cousin in the past 43 years after the local judiciary failed to issue any official announcement regarding his innocence following his wrongful conviction.
In 1970, Tran Van Them, a resident of Yen Phu commune, Yen Phong district was accused of murdering his younger cousin Nguyen Khac Van. He was arrested and in 1973 sentenced to death by the People’s Court in the neighboring province of Vinh Phuc where the duo went to sell tobacco pipes.
In 1975, Them was released as another suspect was arrested and admitted responsibility for killing Van and injuring Them. However, his name has not been officially cleared.
“I have been living with the injustice and shame for the past 43 years, being called a killer by my neighbors and even my relatives,” Them said.
Ever since, Them and his grandson, Tran Van Nam, have been collecting all the necessary paperwork, including the case file and evidence of his imprisonment and wrongful conviction. They had to request a confirmation from Judge Ta Thi Minh Tam, who led his trial in Vinh Phuc, and the two police officers who were tasked with the investigation.
With the help of his lawyer and confirmation from witnesses, Them has requested the judiciary clear his name and demanded compensation, yet has still encountered difficulty. In 2006, the local judiciary said that the case file had been lost as the incident occurred during the war in the 1970s.
By 2014, Them’s lawyer had managed to retrieve the case document from records at the Bac Ninh Department of Police. Following Them’s relentless requests, the Supreme People’s Court decided to deal with the incident.
Recently, a delegation from Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Court led by Deputy Chief Judge Bui Ngoc Hoa, along with representatives of several provincial judicial agencies, visited Them and pledged to look into his case.
A meeting is expected to be convened this week for officials to reach a conclusion on Them’s case, Deputy Chief Judge Hoa confirmed.
A number of legal miscarriage cases have been unveiled recently in which many people have been wrongly sentenced to heavy sentences, including capital punishment. Their names have been cleared after years thanks to confessions of real killers.
The victims of legal miscarriage included Mr. Huynh Van Nen from the central province of Binh Thuan, Luong Ngoc Phi from the northern province of Thai Binh, and Nguyen Thanh Chan from the northern province of Bac Giang.
Mr. Nen and Mr. Chan were wrongly convicted in murder cases. They were freed after spending over ten years in prison, and received respective compensations of billions of dong.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Vietnam’s authorities have received petitions in 258 cases and settled 204 cases in recent years, in which wrongly-sentenced people demand VND111 billion of compensation. Miscarriage of justice was reported in 133 cases due to wrong criminal procedures and the victims were compensated with VND56 billion, the ministry said.
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August 11, 2016
80-year Old Vietnamese Seeking Clearance in Wrong Murder Case for 43 Years
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
Victim of legal miscarriage Tran Van Them
By Vu Quoc Ngu, August 10, 2016
An 80-year-old man from Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Ninh has been seeking for being cleared from allegation of killing his cousin in the past 43 years after the local judiciary failed to issue any official announcement regarding his innocence following his wrongful conviction.
In 1970, Tran Van Them, a resident of Yen Phu commune, Yen Phong district was accused of murdering his younger cousin Nguyen Khac Van. He was arrested and in 1973 sentenced to death by the People’s Court in the neighboring province of Vinh Phuc where the duo went to sell tobacco pipes.
In 1975, Them was released as another suspect was arrested and admitted responsibility for killing Van and injuring Them. However, his name has not been officially cleared.
“I have been living with the injustice and shame for the past 43 years, being called a killer by my neighbors and even my relatives,” Them said.
Ever since, Them and his grandson, Tran Van Nam, have been collecting all the necessary paperwork, including the case file and evidence of his imprisonment and wrongful conviction. They had to request a confirmation from Judge Ta Thi Minh Tam, who led his trial in Vinh Phuc, and the two police officers who were tasked with the investigation.
With the help of his lawyer and confirmation from witnesses, Them has requested the judiciary clear his name and demanded compensation, yet has still encountered difficulty. In 2006, the local judiciary said that the case file had been lost as the incident occurred during the war in the 1970s.
By 2014, Them’s lawyer had managed to retrieve the case document from records at the Bac Ninh Department of Police. Following Them’s relentless requests, the Supreme People’s Court decided to deal with the incident.
Recently, a delegation from Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Court led by Deputy Chief Judge Bui Ngoc Hoa, along with representatives of several provincial judicial agencies, visited Them and pledged to look into his case.
A meeting is expected to be convened this week for officials to reach a conclusion on Them’s case, Deputy Chief Judge Hoa confirmed.
A number of legal miscarriage cases have been unveiled recently in which many people have been wrongly sentenced to heavy sentences, including capital punishment. Their names have been cleared after years thanks to confessions of real killers.
The victims of legal miscarriage included Mr. Huynh Van Nen from the central province of Binh Thuan, Luong Ngoc Phi from the northern province of Thai Binh, and Nguyen Thanh Chan from the northern province of Bac Giang.
Mr. Nen and Mr. Chan were wrongly convicted in murder cases. They were freed after spending over ten years in prison, and received respective compensations of billions of dong.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Vietnam’s authorities have received petitions in 258 cases and settled 204 cases in recent years, in which wrongly-sentenced people demand VND111 billion of compensation. Miscarriage of justice was reported in 133 cases due to wrong criminal procedures and the victims were compensated with VND56 billion, the ministry said.