The family of Ngo Thanh Kieu, 32, who was beaten to death during interrogation by five police officers in Phu Yen Province in 2012, with photos of his injuries at the officers' trial on March 28. Photo courtesy of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper
A court in the south central province of Phu Yen on Thursday sentenced three police to jail terms and handed down two suspended sentences to two others for “torturing a suspect” to death during interrogation.
Nguyen Than Thao Thanh and Nguyen Minh Quyen got five and two years respectively, and Pham Ngoc Man got 18 months.
Nguyen Tan Quang and Do Nhu Huy are on probation for 18 and 12 months.
The five had beaten Ngo Thanh Kieu, 32, to death while questioning him about some burglary cases.
On May 12, 2012, a group of officers went to Kieu’s house in Tay Hoa District’s Hoa Dong Commune at 3:15 am to take him in for questioning on suspicion he and two other men carried out some burglaries in Tuy Hoa Town, the capital city of Phu Yen.
They handcuffed him and took him to the commune police station without an arrest warrant.
At around 8 a.m. Kieu, still handcuffed, was taken to the Tuy Hoa Town police station.
Quyen, 42, Man, 34, and Quang, 39, were assigned to interrogate him; Huy, 29, was to interrogate a suspected accomplice.
At noon Huy went into Kieu’s room to interrogate him and compare testimonies.
Thanh, 30, was assigned to watch Kieu while the other officers went out for lunch.
At around 2 p.m. Kieu was taken to hospital with multiple injuries on his body.
He died the same evening.
A post-mortem showed that Kieu had died of brain and other injuries.
According to prosecutors, Thanh had repeatedly hit Kieu on the head with a rubber baton, causing the brain injuries.
The other four had also hit Kieu on the body with rubber batons during interrogation, they said.
At the trial Thanh denied hitting Kieu on the head, saying he was about to hit Kieu when he begged him not to, and he stopped.
“Kieu told me he had already been beaten black and blue by other officers,” Thanh said.
After the trial, Kieu’s relatives told the media that they would appeal the verdicts, saying it was too light and that some of them had gotten away with suspended sentences.
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Thanh Nien News
More : Vietnam, police, interrogation, death, torture, Phu Yen, beating
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