Removing 'stuck' in resolving criminal cases in Nghe An

Identifying difficulties

Regarding the handling of criminal cases, through actual implementation, according to the leader of PC02 Department of the Provincial Police, the first important factor that determines the acceptance process is to verify the nature of the case, especially for serious crimes such as murder and fraud. According to current law, the time to verify and have a written report to the head of the police investigation agency for assignment is 3 days. For complicated cases involving many subjects in many different locations, this is a difficulty for the handling force.

For example, in early April 2022, Thai Hoa town police discovered a group of subjectsgambleby recording lottery numbers using high-tech devices with huge amounts of money. In this group, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngoc (born in 1991), residing in Hoa Hieu ward, Thai Hoa town, is a level 1 agent collecting lottery boards in Thai Hoa town and neighboring areas to transfer to Vo Thi Hieu (born in 1969), residing in Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi city. The subjects involved in the crime have many complicated relationships, frequently change residence, are related to many other localities outside the province... so it takes more than 3 days to verify. Therefore, Thai Hoa town police directly reported and asked for instructions from the provincial police leaders. From there, they coordinated with related professional departments to establish a special project to fight and break up an online gambling case with a scale of more than 15 billion VND led by subjects in Nghe An and Hanoi.

The Police and the Procuracy jointly arrested and prosecuted law violators. Photo: Duc Vu

Not only in Thai Hoa Town, in recent times, the local police force has received many reports of serious crimes involving fraud, appropriation of property and murder. Upon receiving the reports, in order to avoid returning the cases to the investigation agency, or wrongful convictions and letting criminals escape, the police immediately exchanged information with the Procuracy for initial handling, together checking and evaluating the records and evidence to prepare reports for the head of the investigation agency to make a decision on handling.

Some cases such as fraud cases of appropriating assets using high technology, cases of fighting, causing disturbances... such as in Thai Hoa Town, Nghi Loc, Vinh City that have been handled recently show that, after coordinating verification, some sources of information show that the case involves many subjects in many different localities, it takes more than 3 days to clearly determine the nature.

In addition to the difficulty in determining the nature of the case through the report and the regulation on the time for reporting and verification, representatives of the local police and procuracy also said that there are some difficulties in handling criminal cases that need to be coordinated to overcome, such as some documents mentioned in the Coordination Regulations between the three police, procuracy and court sectors have been revised and replaced by the competent authorities but have not been revised and supplemented in the signed Coordination Regulations in a timely manner. In the process of handling some cases, the district-level investigation agency asked for written opinions but did not send copies of documents and case files, so the comments were not timely.

Nghe An police deployed to arrest and search high-tech facilities in loan sharking (of Tan Tin Dat Company) in 28 provinces and cities across the country. Photo courtesy of Trong Dai

Or some district-level units have not followed the instructions of the three provincial-level agencies, leading to some cases having to hold meetings many times. In some cases, the investigation agency and the district-level Procuracy have not exchanged documents with the investigation agency and the provincial-level Procuracy about transferring the case for investigation according to their authority. In some cases, the procedural procedures are not strict, leading to the return of the investigation file for additional investigation or the return of the file many times. In addition, there are cases where the remaining detention order is not enough for 07 days, making it difficult for the Court to issue a detention order to ensure the deadline, especially in drug cases.

Another difficulty that authorities often encounter is that in many cases there is still a lot of evidence left over due to long-term storage, so there are signs of decomposition, damage, and deformation. However, legal regulations do not have specific guidance on handling evidence left over from suspended or temporarily suspended cases, evidence without complete records, etc., so handling evidence left over still faces many difficulties.

Strengthening coordinated solutions

Realizing some shortcomings and problems affecting the handling of criminal cases, in May 2022, representatives of the Public Security, Court, and Procuracy held meetings and discussed to propose solutions to overcome them. Specifically, implementing the Inter-sectoral Coordination Regulation No. 02/QCPH-LN dated April 23, 2018 of the Public Security, Procuracy, and Court of Nghe An province in handling criminal cases. The coordination regulations were discussed by the relevant parties, thereby proposing a number of specific solutions to improve the efficiency of handling criminal cases. Specifically, during the process of handling cases, investigators, prosecutors, and presiding judges need to promptly report on complicated details of the case that may affect the consideration and assessment of evidence and charges.

The three sectors of the Police, Court and Procuracy signed a cooperation agreement to improve the efficiency of handling criminal cases. Photo: Hoai Thu

Along with that, the three sectors need to regularly organize in-depth training courses on the provisions of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, issues that still have different perceptions in assessing criminal evidence to ensure unified awareness as well as improve professional skills for the team of officers working in investigation, prosecution, and trial of criminal cases.

From June 2018 to present, the police, the Procuracy, and the two-level Courts in Nghe An have received and processed 11,354 reports and denunciations of crimes. In coordination with the Investigation Agency, 10,772 reports were classified and processed (including: 9,216 criminal cases were prosecuted, 1,556 cases were not prosecuted).Of which, 370 news were temporarily suspended; 212 news are being investigated and verified.

The total number of cases handled by the two-level investigation prosecutor is 10,782/19,413 defendants, of which 10,484 cases/18,030 defendants were newly prosecuted. The investigation agency has resolved: 10,321/18,012, 100% of cases were recommended for prosecution, the resolution rate reached 95.7%. The total number of cases handled by the Procuracy is 10,433/18,284 defendants, the Procuracy has prosecuted and transferred to the Court is 10,302/18,054 defendants, reaching a rate of 98.7%.

The leaders of the three sectors of the Public Security, the Procuracy and the Court also agreed that, in addition to strengthening the direction, inspection and reminder work of subordinates in the coordination of criminal case settlement, it is necessary to coordinate more smoothly and promptly to effectively resolve difficulties that litigants encounter in specific cases. For investigators, prosecutors, judges and litigants, it is necessary to strictly comply with the provisions of the law and have flexible and effective coordination methods in the process of settling and accepting criminal cases, not allowing wrongful convictions or letting criminals escape.