Suspect of Motorbike Stealing in Hanoi Sustains Severe Injuries after Interrogation

Victim Tran Anh Doanh from Hanoi

By Defend the Defenders, August 16, 2017

Tran Anh Doanh, 38, from Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi has sustained numerous severe injuries after spending one day-night in police custody, state media reported Tuesday.

At 10.30 PM of Aug 10, police in Trach My Loc commune, Phuc Tho district came to his private residence in Co Dong commune, Son Tay town to take him away, saying the detention aims to investigate Doanh’s involvement in stealing a motorbike. The police said he is the main suspect of the case.

Doanh was brought home by a taxi at 5 PM of the next day, with numerous injuries in his face and body. His family took him to the general hospital of Son Tay town for emergency as he collapsed on the ground.

After getting conscious, Doanh said when he was at home on Aug 10, some individuals with plainclothes invited him to go out and he accepted because he knows some of them. However, the group took him to the Son Tay town police headquarters where they accused him of stealing a motorbike.

Doanh said police handcuffed him and hang him on mullions and beat him until 1 AM of the next day. Police were said to continue beating him at 8 AM, asking him where he hid the vehicle. Despite being tortured, Doanh did not admit being guilty and asked the police to verify his immunity at his work place.

His father Tran Van Duong said police from Son Tay town visited his son in the hospital and offered apology and compensation of VND10 million ($440).

Mr. Duong said his family will send a petition to request for investigation on his son’s torture.

Though Vietnam verified the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) in 2015, many local people continued to suffer from torture in police custody. State media in 2015 cited a report by the police that 226 criminal suspects were found dead in police stations in the 2011-2014 period.

In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in prison on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code. Part of the indictment against her is her documentation of 31 deaths in police custody in which she suspected that the detainees’ deaths were caused by police torture.

Police torture is systemic in Vietnam, according to Human Rights Watch.