Vietnam police suspend officer in connection with suspicious death

Police in Vietnam’s Dong Nai province have suspended an officer involved in the case of Vu Minh Duc who died just hours after being summoned for investigation. His family told Radio Free Asia his body bore signs of torture after it was released from hospital on March 22, the day he died.

On March 27, Tien Phong (The Pioneers) newspaper reported that Capt. Thai Thanh Thuong, deputy head of the Police Team for Social Order Crimes Investigation of Long Thanh District Police had been suspended.

The female officer signed the notice to summon Duc to the local police station on the morning of March 22.

The decision to temporarily suspend the officer, signed by the director of Dong Nai Provincial Police, took effect on March 24. It did not specify why she was suspended.

As reported by RFA, Duc, was accompanied by his relatives to the district police’s headquarters in accordance with the summons notice, to work with investigator Thai Thanh Huong or investigator Luu Quang Trung regarding a case of “disrupting public order” in connection with a fight on Oct. 7, 2023 in An Phuoc commune.

On the afternoon of March 22, his family was informed that Duc had fainted during the interrogation and was sent to Long Thanh District’s General Hospital for emergency care. He later was transferred to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, and when his family arrived, the doctors told them Duc had died.

According to the death certificate of Cho Ray Hospital, Duc died because of a coma, acute kidney failure, acute liver failure, and injuries to the soft parts of his left and right thigh.

The National Forensic Institute worked with the Dong Nai Provincial Police and the Long Thanh District Police to conduct an autopsy on the afternoon of March 23, 2024, to find out the cause of his death.

His family was not allowed either to take photos of the autopsy or to receive the autopsy report.

“His chest area, his skin had swellings and dents, and his thighs and buttocks were swollen. In addition, the level of bruising was noteworthy. Taking a deep look inside when he was operated on, I saw a lot of blood clots inside, penetrating deep into the bone. They were not normal bruises,” Vu Hoang Phu, who witnessed the autopsy told RFA on March 27.

“On his two wrists there were scratches forming circle shapes, our family believe they were handcuffs traces.

“Together with other traces on his body, the family thought there seemed to have been some kind of great force put on his body.”

Phu said his family had received many calls and messages, saying that in addition to Thai Thanh Huong and Luu Quang Trung three other district police officers had also taken part in Duc’s interrogation.

His family arrived at Cho Ray Hospital, around 9:50 p.m. on March 22 and a doctor informed that Mr. Duc had passed away. However, the hospital’s death certificate said he died at 11:00 p.m.

“Our family is now very sad and cannot understand, plus terrified by the level of pain he had suffered. We still don’t know who beat Duc to such an extent, and what objects were used to investigate/interrogate him,” Phu said.

He said his family had sent petitions to multiple agencies, asking them to clarify where and when his brother died, who participated in his interrogation, and why there were bruises on his body.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.