The Constitution with the right to life and elderly Le Dinh Kinh

President Ho Chi Minh reading the declaration of independence for the Right to Life

It has been a month since Vietnam’s police raided Hoanh hamlet, Dong Tam commune, My Duc district, Hanoi city.
Vietnam’s legal protection system has probed and detained 26 people identified as suspects in the case of “murder, possession – illegal use of weapons and resisting law enforcement” in Hoanh village in early hours of Jan 9.

However, based on the Constitution and current legal provisions, there has been another case not yet probed to investigate – determining whether anyone committed a crime or not when Mr. Le Dinh Kinh, 84, was killed.

President Ho Chi Minh reading the declaration of independence which affirms the right to life is a natural right which is a basic proposition from which other laws arise for the purpose Protection of Right to Life, Right to Freedom and Right to happiness

Article 19 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam states: Everyone has the right to life. Human life is protected by law. No one will be deprived of their life illegally.
Article 40 of the 2015 Penal Code states that those for whom do not apply the death penalty when committing crimes or judging include:

  • Persons under 18 years of age,
  • Pregnant women,
  • Women raising children under 36 months age and
  • Persons who are 75 years of age or older.

Therefore, Mr. Le Dinh Kinh is 84 years old, and even if he had committed any crime, he cannot be executed.

5 Vietnamese constitutional forms over the periods: 1946, 1959, 1980, 1992, 2013

In order to ensure that this Constitution has been enshrined, a series of provisions not only in the Criminal Procedure Code, according to which, when depriving the life of a citizen, must be taken into account in various branches (police, police, court), many levels (including the State President) carefully review, even review and review several times in a few decades.
On Dec 17, 2013, the Government issued Decree 208/2013/ND-CP Stipulating measures to prevent, stop and handle acts against officials on duty.

Because the human right to life and other fundamental rights are paramount even when he/she opposes the person on duty, Decree 208/2013 emphasizes a number of strict principles that protect citizens’ right to life.

  • Respect for the rights and legitimate interests of agencies, organizations and individuals.
    Specifically: Taking precaution is main, proactively detecting, stopping in time, strictly handling all acts against officials on duty.
    Being cautious and flexible in preventing and handling acts of opposing officials on duty to ensure the safety and health of officials on duty;
    minimize the damage to life, health, honor, dignity and property caused by anti-law enforcement acts (Article 4).
  • Officials on duty are banned:
    Violating the order, procedures and competence.
    Corruption, bossy, improper conduct while on duty.
    Prohibition Violation of regulations on management and use of weapons, explosives and combat gears.
    Prohibited Violation of regulations on shooting or beyond the limits of legitimate defense.
    Prohibit infringing upon the life, health, honor, dignity and property of others and the normal activities of agencies and organizations while on duty … (Clause 1, Article 5).
Bullet cartridges and explosives from the Ministry of Public Security collected in Mr. Le Dinh Kinh’s house and kept by his family

Officials shall only use force, support tools and professional technical devices or equipment or open fire in case of emergency, or persons who use weapons to commit acts against public service executors or law enforcement officials.
Firearms firing while on duty must comply with the Ordinance on the Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives, Supporting Tools and other relevant law provisions.

The use of weapons, explosives, explosives precursors and combat gears must ensure proper purposes, regulations, and limit damage to people, properties and the environment.

Only use military weapons when there is no other way to prevent the acts of the subjects and after warning, the subjects do not obey.

It is prohibited to use military weapons when knowing that the object is women, people with disabilities, children, the elderly, with exception when they use weapons, explosive materials to attack, fight back, threaten the life, health of law enforcement officials or others.

However, based on the Constitution and a number of legal provisions as mentioned, it is clear that it cannot be ignored investigation on Mr. Kinh’s “execution” to determine whether this behavior is correct with the laws or not.

There are many questions that cannot be answered if Vietnam’s authorities fail to probe his death. The case would be legal miscarriage and make people angry.

How an 84-year-old disabled person can attack, resist, threaten the life, health of law enforcement officials or others to the point of “destroying” on the spot?

Without probing the case, how can we determine the answer about the marks on Mr. Kinh’s body (dislocated knee joint, bullet wounds in the heart and head)?

Who dislocated the knee joint, who shot Kinh’s heart and head?
Kinh’s knee joint was dislocated first and then the individuals on duty would shoot at the heart, head or vice versa?

No prosecution of a case, no investigation, no determination of respect for the law of the people involved in the performance of official duties
(in all cases, users of military weapons must limit the damage caused by the use of military weapons).

If not, who is responsible for the acts of assassination, for fabricating evidence, stories, and finding all ways to cover the violation of current laws and regulations?
If you use Google, you can find tens of thousands of websites explaining why civilized nations, rule of law, put all police who have shot someone with a gun to “suspend work” – including when there are sufficient witnesses, the evidence shows that the shooting is necessary and justified. “Suspension of work” for a policeman after shooting a person is a natural thing to organize an investigation, determine true – false.

“Suspension of work” is chance for the police officers having fired to have time to report and answer questions. The investigators were commissioned to investigate more easily in collecting testimony, evidence of all the individuals involved, assessing and concluding whether shooting people violated the law (?).
“Suspending the work” of the police shooting people also to prove to the public, the right to life that was determined by the Constitution as inviolable always respected.

 “Suspension of work” to conduct investigations of police officers who have shot people, even if there is sufficient evidence, the witness indicates that the shooting is necessary and justified as a form of reminding the whole police to Be careful, consider when shooting someone.
In recent years, on Vietnamese-language social networks, some people often use the story of European-American police heavily in preventing criminals to justify the behavior of Vietnamese police. This comparison is a crude fallacy because both the Vietnamese police and the Vietnamese public authority system refuse to exercise due diligence, such as the Euro-US police and organize investigations and transparency of examination results, accusations and complaints about public service forces such as the public system in Europe and the US.

The prosecution to investigate the killing of Mr. Kinh is not merely a meeting of the desires of many people of different sexes – it will be evidence that the Vietnamese political system and public authority system “works” according to the Constitution and the law ”or not?
Whether socialist democracy, socialist legislation in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam creates a truly civilized society, all citizens are equal, or the Constitution and laws are only tools to deceive people in foreign affairs and suppress citizens?

The case that the Party and its government have committed crimes against people in Dong Tam has revealed the true face of the communist regime, when they have used foreign savage communism to bring disaster to the nation.

This crime cannot be washed away, it has been etched into the dark history of the nation and the hearts of millions of Vietnamese people.

Hoang Lan from Ha Noi – Thoibao.de (Translated)

Kasse animation 7.8.2023