Mr. Dao Ba Cuong, the father of victim Dao Ba Phi who died in Tuy Hoa-Phu Yen police station last October, was arrested for persisting in demanding clarification about his son’s death.
The head of Tuy Hoa City Police – Senior Colonel Nguyen Huu Son, on April 27 told the state-controlled media that the above measures and accusations against Mr. Dao Ba Cuong were “abusing democratic freedoms” according to Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
Tuy Hoa city police said that from December 2022 to April 2023, Mr. Dao Ba Cuong repeatedly sent petitions to the authorities to request clarification of some contents related to the death of his son Dao Ba Phi and asked to return his body to the family, asking for help to exonerate his son.
As reported, Phu Yen Provincial Police on October 20, 2022 announced the arrest of citizen Dao Ba Phi, living in Ward 4, Tuy Hoa City, on October 16, 2022 for investigation on property theft. At that time he was completely healthy. At 5 o’clock on October 18, the person detained with Mr. Phi discovered that Mr. Phi was hanging in his cell. Phi was given first aid and taken to Dong Hoa Town Medical Center but did not survive.
According to a press release, the Dong Hoa Town Police “informed the time and location of the autopsy and asked the representative of Dao Ba Phi’s family to witness, but the family offered inappropriate conditions in accordance with the provisions of the law, so the Examination Council conducted an autopsy of Dao Ba Phi’s body in accordance with the order and procedures of criminal proceedings.”
On November 28, 2022, the Investigation Police Agency of the Phu Yen Provincial Police Department finished examining, verifying and issuing a decision not to probe a criminal case for the case according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Ms. Dao Thi Quyen, Mr. Dao Ba Phi’s sister, after the death of her brother, told Radio Free Asia that she received a lot of information contrary to what the police gave.
According to Ms. Quyen, around 11 a.m. on October 16, three plainclothes policemen entered the house and asked Mr. Phi to go to the police station of Ward 4, Tuy Hoa city to work without a summon letter.
At noon on October 17, a police officer of Dong Hoa town called his family to inform him that Mr. Phi had been transferred to Dong Hoa town police, and asked his family to bring two suits with some money for him while being detained.
According to the request, Nguyen Ba Cuong, Mr. Phi’s father, went to the police station to send things and saw Phi being handcuffed. Seeing his father, Mr. Phi shouted for help.
On the morning of October 18, the police of ward 4 and the police of Dong Hoa town informed the family that Phi had died by hanging himself. Quyen said that Cuong asked to see his son one last time, but the police did not agree, they asked him to sign the certificate of receipt of the body first. That evening, the family again went to the Dong Hoa town police station to ask Mr. Phi’s body back, but the police said that they must wait for the direction of the competent authority.
On October 20, the Post Office simultaneously sent Mr. Cuong three documents from the Dong Hoa Town Police. The first is the Notice of Emergency Detention for Dao Ba Phi for investigation of property theft. The second is the Notice of the detainee’s suicide and the third is the Notice of the dead detainee’s burial.
Ms. Quyen said that until October 24, after receiving the notice that Phi had died by suicide, the family had never once seen his face. The police also did not tell the family where he was buried.
Claiming that the authorities were “distorting the truth,” the victim’s family on the morning of October 19, wearing mourning clothes, gathered at the Dong Hoa town police station to request Phi’s body to be returned to his family. A family member livestreamed the incident and the video quickly went viral on social media.
Ms. Quyen added that the police told the family that they would show the place where Phi was buried, on condition that the family signed an agreement to only pick up the grave for re-burial after 36 months.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
