Investigating bad cops -- some progress

UNCLAS HANOI 002541 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PINS PGOV KJUS VM HUMANR SUBJECT: Investigating bad cops -- some progress Ref: A. Hanoi 2074 ¶B. 02 Hanoi 2407 ¶1. (U) Summary. The Supreme People's Procurary (SPP) has proposed a formal investigation against the deputy chief and two officers of a police investigation office in Quang Nam province for their involvement in the 2002 death by beating of a detainee. The investigation may mark a positive change in the way in which allegations of law enforcement abuses are handled by consolidating the authority to make such inquiries at the national level to make investigation less susceptible to political influence. End Summary. ¶2. (U) According to media reports, a preliminary inquiry conducted by the national level SPP Investigation Office revealed that on the night of July 14, 2002, local police investigators came to the residence of Nguyen Ngoc Chau in Thang Binh district of Quang Nam province and took him into custody without a warrant. Chau was then allegedly heavily beaten during questioning about his possible involvement in a case of murder and property theft, and died early on July 16 on the way to a local hospital for treatment. A local autopsy had declared that his death was due to "heart disease." ¶3. (U) Alerted to possible injustice in the case, the SPP requested the central military coroner's office conduct a second autopsy, which lead to the determination that the victim had actually died from beatings as well as having suffered "serious respiratory debility" caused by violence. Based on these results and its preliminary inquiry into the case, the SPP then proposed a formal investigation of the two police officers for illegally detaining a citizen without a warrant and for use of corporal punishment. The SPP has also now proposed a formal investigation of Lieutenant Colonel Huynh Duc Cuong, deputy chief of the local police investigation office, for having done nothing to prevent the misconduct. Under pressure from the provincial government and the MPS, however, the SPP Investigation Office agreed to examine the Lieutenant Colonel's involvement separately, in order to take into context the "political situation in the locality." ¶4. (SBU) A deputy section chief from the Ministry of Public Security's External Relations General Department noted to Embassy that it was still "quite strange" for the national SPP Office to become involved in the investigation of a local level case. The MPS' investigation office is usually more likely to take charge of such cases, he added, as well as opining that the national SPP may have chosen to investigate the incident itself to ensure fairer results. ¶5. (SBU) A deputy director of the Supreme People's Court's (SPC) Judicial Institute confirmed separately to Embassy that the national level SPP Investigation Office was now supposed to take the lead in conducting investigations on cases involving legal enforcement officials at all levels, rather than leaving this responsibility to their provincial equivalents. The objective is to ensure "impartiality" in investigations of law enforcement staff, including those looking into members of the MPS, the Procuracy, and the Court, he claimed. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: A more assertive role by the SPP Investigation Office in law enforcement-related cases could be welcome, and may be reflective of a heightened GVN determination to correct police injustices. In another recent case, the Supreme People's Court reportedly requested re-investigation of an auto accident in which the son of a senior Hanoi police official had been cleared of wrongdoing. The change in investigation procedures is twinned with a National Assembly resolution earlier this year prescribing procedures to obtain official compensation for victims of police and judicial wrongs (ref a). The increasing - but still rare - media attention given to such cases is also welcome, as was the case in an earlier incident involving prison guards (ref b). Nonetheless, the difference in treatment between the two officers and their supervisor suggests rank and connections still are influential in the legal system. The legal and oversight environment for criminal affairs is changing for the better, albeit slowly, in a process that will likely continue for many years, if not decades, ahead. PORTER