Exactly a week has passed since the day that martial arts master – Dr. Pham Dinh Quy, a lecturer at Ton Duc Thang University, was kidnapped by Dak Lak police, this afternoon, Dr. Quy’s father, Master Pham Dinh Trang, said Mr. Quy was kidnapped from the evening of September 23, but until September 30, his family received a notification from the police … sent by post!
Mr. Trang’s family received two envelopes, the sender is Dak Lak province police, the recipient is Mr. Pham Dinh Trang, with the stamp of the Dak Lak post office on September 27.
The text sent is the notice of the arrest of the person detained in an “emergency“.
While the public opinion surrounding the kidnapping of Dr. Quy is increasingly fierce, today there is a new development, showing the possibility that the Dak Lak faction will not descend – that is, the Journal of Environment and Society is suspended for 2 months and got an administrative fine of VND50 million ($2,240) for “false information, causing a very serious impact” in the article “Secretary of the Party Committee of Dak Lak is accused of ‘plagiarizing’ and academic fraud?” posted in its special issue 16/2020. This magazine also had to revoke the publication with articles providing information about the Secretary of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee Bui Van Cuong plagiarizing.
Information about the suspense of the magazine Environment and Society made public opinion “marginalized” confused and pessimistic. There was an opinion that Mr. Bui Van Cuong would be transferred to the Ministry of Information and Communication as a leader, so the Press Department rolled up his sleeve to help him. The people have more chance to understand more about communists, witnessing the whistleblower being kidnapped. Now they continue to witness the newspaper reporting the violation being suspended and fined.
Journalist Vo Van Tao stated that “Daklak is completely wrong.” On his personal Facebook he wrote the following:
“A week has passed, the Daklak CA scandal kidnapped the couple of Dr. Pham Dinh Quy, lecturer Ton Duc Thang University still in a mess, like a bone stuck in the throat of Mr. Bui Van Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee and the secretary of the Daklak Party Committee, and the police of this province. They cannot settle it easily.
The power of a member of the Party Central Committee in the name of the police of Daklak province can obscure the jungle behavior, they blatantly trampled on the current law.
Many people have spoken out, calling this the behavior of forest gangsters, not the police, even less in a member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee.
They said that the Dak Lak criminalized a civil issue. True, Mr. Cuong can choose to sue civil, but the reasoning to only sue civil is not close enough.
The Penal Code contains Article 156 on “Slandering” with a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and compensation for material and spiritual damage.
Infact, in 2017, the authority of the Maritime University issued a written conclusion that Mr. Cuong has copied (15%) to make his thesis.
Thus, the plagiarism is real and Dr. Quy did not slander.
Seemingly unsure of the law enforcement of Dr. Quy’s arrest, at first, the Daklak police announced that they “invited him to work,” not detained. The public, the press, and the online community reacted strongly, after a few days of illegal arrest, they turned to prosecute the case (it is unclear whether the policy decisions of arrest and probing approved by the local Procuracy. Be careful of illegal detention and prosecution because the consequences would be serious.
According to the current criminal procedure regulations, if the police has in hand a decision to prosecute the defendant and a decision to detain which have been approved by the Procuracy, prior to the arrest, the police must notify the family, Ton Duc Thang University, and have witness by the people’s representative where Dr. Quy and his wife reside. And detention only applies if the suspect is released on bail, can continue to endanger society, or erase the criminal trail, or the suspect may flee, if the penalty is severe (death sentence, life imprisonment, 20 years in prison). Over here, Dr. Quy openly sent a petition to denounce Mr. Cuong plagiarism to relevant agencies in the Central agencies and the press, for a long time, the heaviest penalty of slander was only 2 years. Obviously, the detention of Dr. Quy is not a necessary deterrent, but a kind of violence, revenge against young people, arbitrary face-off, defying the law.
But the Daklak police, in order to please the province leader, defied all the provisions of the criminal procedure law, unexpectedly arrested and illegally arrested Dr. Quy and his wife while they went to dinner at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, to the surprise of all the guests who happened to be present and the owner. So, the next morning, they released Dr. Quy’s wife and requested her not to let anyone know about the kidnapping.
It is important to know that, according to the current provisions of the law, state civil servants are only allowed to do what the law allows.
In criminal proceedings of the police, there is no concept of “inviting for working.” This is a hoax, fraud, and abuse of the police investigative agency’s power, which has become a common national disaster, tolerated by the Ministry of Public Security and the legal protection agencies.
The responsibility for handling this illegal arrest first belongs to the Department of Investigation of the Supreme People’s Court. Nationwide, only this agency has the authority and responsibility to investigate and prosecute acts belonging to the group of “infringing judicial activities” (the object of violating the law is cadres and civil servants in the police, procuracy, court, and sentence enforcement).
If taking seriously its functions, the Department must immediately issue a decision to prosecute the case of “illegally arresting people” and prosecute the involved state officials. That is the best way to keep the regime’s faceless obscure and avoid getting “Crime of not prosecuting criminal responsibility for criminals (Article 369 of the Criminal Code).
Strangely, over the past week, when the online community and the foreign media were strongly condemned, the domestic press also spoke out, the responsible legal protection agencies of the Central Mass Mobilization Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam still covered their ears. What does the party’s prestige, the state, and national honor seem to them ?!” journalist Vo Van Tao concluded.
From Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Khac Mai, former director of Research Department, Central Mass Mobilization Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam expressed his dissatisfaction with this incident:
“When you see people making false accusations you should take them to court, suing him for wrongly defaming you so the court will punish him. Vietnam has laws to punish those who make false accusations that affect the personality and interests of people, why not use the law but play the ‘jungle law.’ The native people in the Central Highlands are very cultured and civilized so the local state officials have to learn their culture to live, not turn themselves into a barbarian but behave.”
RFA contacted lawyer Dang Dinh Manh in Saigon to ask for more details about arrest laws in the current law and received replies:
“Particularly in the case of Mr. Quy, the investigation agency of Dak Lak province police arrested Mr. Quy, legally there is absolutely no basis to arrest because Mr. Quy is pursuing a complaint and denunciation case.
Mr. Quy’s complaints and denunciations have not yet concluded whether he denounced right or wrong but the investigation police rushed in to arrest him for slander.
In the crime of slandering, detention would be made in case the person is proved to make false accusations. However, in this case, there has no final conclusion. Particularly in the case of Mr. Quy, it is reasonable to raise the problem with revenge against the complainant and denunciator. “
In addition, lawyer Manh also pointed out the violations of the procedure as well as the unreasonable points in the case of arresting Dr. Pham Dinh Quy of the police of Dak Lak province. He said:
“Emergency arrests are used when the crime is of a very serious or particularly serious nature and is based on a penalty of 7 years or more. Meanwhile, the crime under Article 156 is the heaviest penalty, the highest is 7 years, so if applying this is still incorrect. The second is the violation of the arrest rules. According to him, he was arrested on September 23 but the police issued a written notice on September 27. They should have notified their families when they were arrested but did not notify them until 4 days later. The Dak Lak police violated not only the arrest procedure but also the deadline to notify the family.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
