The household of a 31-year-old man who died in police custody in Vietnam say his physique confirmed indicators of torture.
On March 22, Vu Minh Duc was summoned to a police station in Lengthy Thanh district, Dong Nai province, for questioning about his involvement in an October 2023 quarrel which escalated into what his household described as gang violence. He could be useless by the tip of the day.
It’s the most recent instance of an individual dying in suspicious circumstances whereas in police custody.
Duc, the first breadwinner of his family and a father of two youngsters, together with a one-year previous, was known as into the interrogation room at 10:30 a.m. Two family members who accompanied him to the station have been requested to not enter, a relative, who requested anonymity for security causes, instructed Radio Free Asia. He stated that Duc had been in good well being with none main sicknesses or signs of illness.
About 3:00 p.m, the investigator phoned Duc’s spouse and requested her to signal some papers. When she went to the station, they defined that whereas they have been taking Duc’s testimony, he fainted, so that they took him to the hospital for emergency care.
One in every of Duc’s brothers instructed the Phap Luat On-line newspaper that the police wished Duc’s spouse to signal papers associated to his well being.
By the tip of the day, Duc had been to a different hospital. When the household arrived on the second hospital, the docs instructed them that he died at about 9:30 p.m.
“We noticed the corpse and took some pictures,” stated a member of the family who didn’t need to be named for concern of reprisals. “We noticed bruises and indicators of presumably bloody vomit in his mouth. The hospital concluded that the reason for dying was a number of accidents, as there have been bruises on the physique.
The pictures shared with RFA confirmed accidents on the left leg, the neck, and the mouth with proof of dried blood. Moreover the again of Duc’s left thigh had darkish purple bruises.
Not less than 16 folks died in police stations or detention amenities between 2018 and 2021, in response to statistics collected by RFA from Vietnamese state-owned media studies. A lot of these deaths have been publicized by family members on social media.
Since then a number of extra have suffered a related destiny.
Most just lately on March 8, villagers in Dak Lak province discovered the physique of Christian preacher Y Bum Bya hanging within the native cemetery.
The Central Highlands Evangelical Church of Christ, to which he belonged, launched an announcement on March 19 saying Y Bum Bya was murdered after being repeatedly overwhelmed and threatened by native police.
The police had requested him to fulfill them within the cemetery saying they wished to return his cell phone, the church stated.
An hour later villagers found his physique. There was no suicide be aware. Police declined to debate the case on the telephone with RFA.
Within the case of Vu Minh Duc, state media reported that his household requested the Nationwide Post-mortem Institute to make clear the reason for dying. They took his physique residence on Monday to arrange for a funeral.
RFA tried to contact investigator Luu Quang Trung of the Lengthy Thanh district police, whose title was on Duc’s summons paper, however he didn’t choose up the telephone.
Officers on the station stated that inquiries in regards to the case might solely be made in individual.
Translated by An Nguyen. Edited by Eugene Whong and Mike Firn.