US embassy cable - 03HANOI2541

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