Vietnam sentences policeman for fatal beating

2 Mar, 2011
Source: The Earth Time

Hanoi - A court in northern Vietnam has sentenced a policeman to seven years in jail for killing a man over a traffic violation in an incident that sparked mass public outrage in the province.

Bac Giang People's Court on Tuesday sentenced Nguyen The Nghiep, 25, for "causing death to a person in the performance of official duties." P

oliceman Nghiep arrested Nguyen Van Khuong last July for not wearing a helmet whilst driving a motorcycle. Khuong was later found in the police station with head injuries and died in hospital.

When the authorities returned Khuong's body to his family the next day, his relatives blamed the police for his death and took the coffin to the provincial People's Committee headquarters in Bac Giang city, demanding that those responsible be brought to justice.

Thousands of demonstrators joined their cause, as police used tear gas to disperse the biggest protests ever seen in the province. Local media has reported several incidents of Vietnamese police brutality.

US-based activist group Human Rights Watch (HRW) last October said an alarming number of incidents had been reported from every region of Vietnam.

HRW said there had been at least 19 incidents of reported police brutality, resulting in the deaths of 15 people, all reported in the state-controlled press in Vietnam from October 2009 to October 2010.