Social networks have just reported that Mr. Luu Binh Nhuong – former member and former Deputy Head of the Committee for People’s Aspiration of Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) on the morning of September 27 received the parents of death row prisoner Nguyen Van Chuong at the NA’s People’s Reception headquarters, right after unjust death row prisoner Le Van Manh was suddenly executed, after more than 18 years in a death row cell waiting for exoneration.
Similar to the Ho Duy Hai case, based on the case file, it can be confirmed that death row prisoner Le Van Manh was unjustly convicted. Le Van Manh was convicted of rape and murder without any direct evidence. Thanh Hoa province police forced Manh to confess, used criminal prison inmates to beat him, and forced Manh to write a confession letter to his family. That letter was the only evidence to convict and sentence Manh to death.
State media has repeatedly asserted: “… after four first and appeal trials, on April 23, 2007, the Supreme People’s Procuracy issued a cassation appeal, arguing that ‘the investigation agency has many shortcomings and contradictions and there is no solid basis to conclude that Le Van Manh committed the crimes of murder and child rape.’
Implementing the protest of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, on June 4, 2007, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court opened a cassation session. As a result, the Cassation Decision completely rejected all accusations and outlined errors and contradictions in the case file of death row prisoner Le Van Manh. And decided:
“Cancel criminal appeal judgment No. 756/2006/HSPT dated July 26, 2006 of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme People’s Court in Hanoi and first instance criminal judgment No. 61/2006/HSST dated March 13 -2006 of the People’s Court of Thanh Hoa province…”
However, despite the documents being returned for re-investigation, the Thanh Hoa Provincial First Instance Court continued to sentence Le Van Manh to death in the trial on August 29, 2008.
After three trials, the Supreme Court still upheld Manh’s death sentence in the trial on November 25, 2008.
It is known that in 2015, Thanh Hoa Court also issued a decision to execute the sentence of death row prisoner Le Van Manh. This decision created a wave of strong public opinion. Many famous lawyers have signed a petition to President Truong Tan Sang and relevant agencies, proposing to postpone the execution of death row prisoner Le Van Manh, with the reason to “avoid unjustly implicating innocent people.” At the same time, international human rights organizations also spoke up, calling on the Vietnamese government to postpone the execution of Le Van Manh. Finally, the Thanh Hoa Court decided to postpone the execution of the sentence. And since then, the Supreme Court and interdisciplinary agencies have reviewed the case file many times.
On the afternoon of September 13, 2022, presenting a report to the National Assembly Standing Committee on the Supreme Court’s settlement of complaints and denunciations in 2022, Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh mentioned the case of death row inmates’ grievances of Le Van Manh in Thanh Hoa. According to Chief Justice Binh, this is a complicated case, so the Supreme Court will continue to verify and report to interdisciplinary leaders according to regulations.
Yet, since then, there has been no information about the verification results to report, as Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh said. Suddenly, on September 18, the family of death row prisoner Le Van Manh received notice from Thanh Hoa Court about the execution of his sentence.
The question is why, who deliberately rushed to kill Le Van Manh, and for what purpose? What role does Supreme Court Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh play in the “hasty” execution of the death sentence against Le Van Manh?
Lawyer Dang Dinh Manh also commented: “I once heard ‘If all those who complain are executed, there will be no more unjust cases!’ I thought it was just an overdone joke. As it turns out, it is the policy of the Supreme Court.”
Previously, social activist Nguyen Anh Tuan quoted from the Thanh Hoa Court’s notice sent to Le Van Manh’s family, according to which “the execution of the sentence against Manh is at the request of Department I of the Supreme People’s Court with its Dispatch dated August 11, 2023.”
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan affirmed, “In the hierarchical system of power apparatus in Vietnam, we know that Department I cannot send this official dispatch without the direction of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Nguyen Hoa Binh.”
Nguyen Hoa Binh was once famous for organizing the “Council of Knife and Cutting Board”, with 17 supreme judges, the cassation judge of Ho Duy Hai’s case, with the irresponsible conclusion “upholding the death sentence” because “the file contained procedural violation but does not affect the nature of the case.”
What the public is worried about is that Chief Justice Binh’s direction today does not only kill death row prisoner Le Van Manh, and if not stopped, the perpetrator will continue to unjustly kill Ho Duy Hai, Nguyen Van Chuong and many others./.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
