Three former prison officers stand trial for beating prisoner to death
A 17-year-old prisoner who abandoned his work was repeatedly beaten with rubber sticks by prison officers and later died.
Long An Provincial People's Court has just heard the appeal case of the prison guards of Long Hoa Prison (General Department VIII, Ministry of Public Security).Use of torturekilled a 17-year-old prisoner a year ago.
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Three former prison officers in court. Photo:Annam |
According to the indictment, in October 2017, Chau Minh Nhut (22 years old, conscript), Nguyen Phuoc Thuan (36 years old) and Nguyen Minh Huan (26 years old) were assigned to be in charge of two teams of juvenile prisoners.
On the morning of October 20, three prison officers took turns calling four prisoners who had only been serving their sentences for three days into the chair weaving workshop to ask why they had quit their jobs, including Lai Quoc Huy. They forced these people to lie face down on the floor and used rubber sticks to hit their buttocks, thighs, and legs.
At noon, the defendants continued to call Huy in, asked him the reason, and pushed him down on the floor. The victim struggled, and was handcuffed by two other inmates present. The officers used rubber batons to beat Huy repeatedly, then handcuffed him to the wall.
In the early afternoon, the defendants discovered Huy passed out, so they removed the handcuffs and took him to the emergency room, but the victim had already died.
At the previous first instance trial, the court sentenced three former prison officers to between 2 years and 3 years and 6 months in prison.
At the appeal hearing, the three defendants admitted to their crimes. However, the victim’s lawyer argued that the first instance court had not clarified the defendants’ actions that led to the victim’s head injuries.
The panel of judges adjourned the trial and will continue on December 18.
