Exoneration for a man who spent 46 years on death row

On the morning of August 11, representatives of central judicial agencies organized a ceremony to announce the decision to suspend the investigation of the accused and publicly apologize to Mr. Tran Van Them (80 years old, residing in Cho town, Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh), who has been on death row for the past 46 years without being officially exonerated.

Attending the announcement ceremony were Mr. Bui Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court; Lieutenant General Tran Trong Luong, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Police, Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen, Director of Department 7, Supreme People's Procuracy; Party committees and authorities of Bac Ninh province and thousands of people of Cho town, Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh.

Major General Vu Quang Hung, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Department, announced the decision to suspend the investigation of the accused Tran Van Them. This decision was sent to the Supreme People's Procuracy, the Supreme People's Court and Mr. Tran Van Them.

At the apology, the representative of the Interdisciplinary Judicial Agency also said that, according to the provisions of the Law on State Compensation Liability, the apology will be published in the mass media and in the near future, compensation for Mr. Them's wrongful conviction will be carried out according to the provisions of the law...

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Tran Van Them was moved to thank the President, relevant agencies, lawyers, and those who helped him to be cleared of his name. In particular, Mr. Tran Van Them hoped that Mr. Nguyen Khac Van's family would share the injustice he had suffered for the past 43 years, hoping that the two families would heal their wounds, unite, and resolve the consequences of the injustice for the entire family...

Supreme Court representative read the apology.

Mr. Tran Van Them spoke.

Sharing with CAND reporters, Mr. Them said that he had not been able to sleep for the past few nights because of joy and excitement. He expressed his joy because today he was officially vindicated after 46 long years of being a death row inmate.

Lawyer Vu Van Loi, who helped find two sentences for Mr. Tran Van Them at Bac Ninh Provincial Police, said: "This is a fair and meaningful result not only for Mr. Them."

Returning to this case, on the night of July 23, 1970, Mr. Them and his cousin, Mr. Nguyen Khac Van, went together to sell tobacco and buy black plums. When they arrived at Dong Tinh commune, Tam Duong district (Vinh Phu), it was dark so they both went to a roadside hut to sleep. At about 1 a.m., while sleeping, Mr. Them felt dizzy because someone had hit him on the head with a hammer. At the same time, the robber had also hit Mr. Van on the head.

The robber was beaten by the two brothers and jumped into the river and disappeared. The villagers heard the cries for help and ran to see Mr. Them still holding the bloody stake in his hand. Both were rushed to the hospital but Mr. Van died on the way.

Children and grandchildren escorted Mr. Tran Van Them to the hall.

In 1973, the People's Court of Vinh Phu Province (now Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho Provinces) held a first-instance trial and sentenced Mr. Them to death for two crimes: murder and robbery, although in court he pleaded innocent and stated that he was also a victim of what had happened. A year later, the Supreme People's Court of Appeal in Hanoi rejected his appeal and upheld the death sentence. Later, Mr. Them was accused by the Vinh Phu Province prosecution agency of killing his cousin for robbery.

At the end of 1975, Mr. Them was called out of solitary confinement by the warden of Duc Phu prison to go to the crime scene. When he arrived at the scene, he learned that another suspect had been arrested and confessed to killing Mr. Van and injuring him.

Mr. Them was then taken to the Ministry of Public Security detention center in Hanoi. Two days later, an officer explained to him that due to a head injury, he was given a certificate exempting him from heavy labor and was taken to Gia Lam Bus Station to catch a bus home to celebrate Tet with his family.

Since then, no one has cared about him anymore. Since then, Mr. Them has continued to carry the status of a death row inmate on his tireless journey of appealing for justice.

He and his family sent petitions of redress everywhere. However, the agencies to which Mr. Them sent his petitions all responded that his petitions were groundless because... they could not find any records of his case.

According to CAND