Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court stated 4 lessons from the Ha Van Tham case

Answering questions from National Assembly deputies on the morning of November 18, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Hoa Binh presented four lessons from the Ha Van Tham case and other deputies explained many contents related to the trial of cases in recent times.

Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Hoa Binh. Photo: Vo Hai

Proposal to stop organizing mobile courts

Referring to mobile courts, Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh said that this method has been effective for a long time, but in the current information conditions, people can access information through the media and online judgments without having to go to court. Therefore, the propaganda effect of mobile courts no longer exists.

In addition, mobile courts also have shortcomings, such as being organized outside the courthouse without transparency, being difficult to protect, especially when the trial involves dangerous subjects, and being costly. The Chief Justice said that each year the industry spends 70 billion VND to organize more than 9,000 trials, not to mention the support money from localities.

Given the limited effects, Mr. Binh proposed stopping the organization of mobile courts.

4 lessons from the Ha Van Tham case

Responding to a delegate's question about "what lessons have been learned in the trial of Ha Van Tham", Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh said that although there has not been a summary, public opinion assesses this as a transparent case, with litigation to the end, very strict and with a verdict that differentiates criminals.

According to him, there are four lessons from this case. The first is to accurately determine the crime, and at the first trial, the case file was returned to the investigation agency and the Procuracy to prosecute the crime of corruption.

Second is open and unrestricted litigation. Third is differentiation, strict with leaders but also opening the way for salaried workers.

Since 2013, judges have been reluctant to give suspended sentences to economic and corruption cases, but in this major economic case, the Council of Judges has sentenced 34 people to suspended sentences. These are young people, salaried workers, who have not benefited from anything and have confessed honestly and voluntarily remedied the consequences.

"The sentence is very strict for the ringleader, but very humane for the salaried workers. This is a necessary sentence to prevent crime but also pave the way for them in the future," said Mr. Binh.

Fourth, the Trial Panel fulfilled its function, the verdict also had many recommendations to prosecute the case, handle the officials...

Privacy is protected when the verdict is published online.

Regarding the public disclosure of judgments online, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Hoa Binh said that this breakthrough solution has been applied since 2017 and has many effects.

Firstly, ensuring citizens' right to access information as prescribed by the Constitution; this is also a policy of complying with the principle of public court operations.

Second, if the judge's responsibility is assessed when he signs the verdict, then a few days later, many people will know. This is also a mechanism for people to monitor the verdict and evaluate the quality of the judge.

To date, the Supreme People's Court has published 32,318 judgments. Since September, nearly 1.4 million people have accessed the website and received public comments on more than 1,600 judgments, most of which were positive.

In response to delegate Le Ngoc Hai's concerns about whether the above announcement would affect citizens' privacy rights, Mr. Binh said that the Court has issued a Resolution that will not publicize judgments related to national security, judgments related to minors..., and must encrypt the names of those involved in the judgment.

"People's privacy is guaranteed," Mr. Binh affirmed.

Why are many corruption cases prolonged?

Participating in the questioning, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Procuracy Le Minh Tri explained why some corruption cases have been prolonged, with files returned many times, and in some cases, the charges were changed from corruption to economic crimes. "Is there a crime being let go?"

Mr. Tri said that the work of preventing and combating corruption has recently made clear progress, many cases have been brought to trial strictly and in accordance with the law; however, there are still long-standing cases, and in that, the responsibility of the prosecution agency and the prosecution sector is partly due.

The reason was pointed out by the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Procuracy: this is a pending case (the crime was committed long before it was discovered), the subjects are people with knowledge, positions, and can influence many different levels when investigating the case... The results of the forensic examination are lengthy and must be carried out many times; in the case of Pham Cong Danh alone, the examination had to be conducted 5 times to have a basis.

"Just having a firm grasp of formal law and procedural law alone cannot assess the damage in these cases, so judicial appraisal is of decisive significance," he stated.

According to Mr. Tri, there are corruption and economic cases with a scale of up to thousands of billions of VND, so the damage assessment is difficult, and it is impossible to examine everything within the allowed investigation time. Therefore, the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption has proposed the policy of "investigating clearly to what extent, prosecuting and trying to that extent, and putting the rest into another case". Handling in this way helps bring criminals to light according to each act, but in general, it is difficult to fully prove the crime.

In addition, the extension of the sentence also depends on the time it takes for the specialized agency to provide documents, the time it takes for the appraisal agency to provide content, the request to recover assets, and the resolution of civil issues in the case... The large scale of the cases is also a pressure for the authorities. Specifically, the Pham Cong Danh case has 50 defendants; the Ha Van Tham case also has 51 defendants in different provinces and cities.

"New regulations in economic management and the 2015 Penal Code also set higher enforcement requirements for authorities. We recognize that prolonging and returning cases for further investigation many times is also related to the capacity and qualifications of the prosecution agencies, including the prosecution sector," said Chief Justice Le Minh Tri.

In addition, according to him, the fear of wrongful convictions has led to perfectionism in investigation requests and evidence evaluation, leading to returning the case to "thoroughly resolve the case for one's own safety."

According to VNE