Former Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh will leave the hospital close to his trial date.
According to the lawyer, Mr. Vinh hopes to come to court to answer questions even though his health is not stable after many days in the hospital.
On November 8, lawyer Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, who is defending Mr. Phan Van Vinh (former Lieutenant General, former Director General of the General Department of Police), said that her client is still in the hospital. His health is not stable yet, but his mind is clear enough to appear in court early next week.
According to lawyer Trang, Mr. Vinh said he "wanted to go to court to answer questions". It is expected that on November 11, Mr. Vinh will be discharged from the hospital and returned to prison for a day to complete the procedure to extract the defendant like the others. "However, this will depend on my client's health condition at that time", the lawyer said.
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| Mr. Phan Van Vinh when he was the Director General of the General Department of Police, Ministry of Public Security. Photo: People's Police. |
Chief Justice of Phu Tho Province People's Court Ngo To Dung said that the trial organizing committee had prepared an ambulance, a team of nurses and doctors to ensure the health of not only Mr. Vinh but also the remaining defendants.
Regarding Mr. Vinh's health condition, Mr. Dung said "there is a specific plan for the defendant to appear in court with guaranteed health". Mr. Vinh is also not required to come to court every day, if the panel of judges agrees.
According to Mr. Dung, at the opening session on the morning of November 12, all 92 defendants must be present to complete procedures. The case has many different groups of crimes, so in the following days, a certain number of defendants can be summoned to suit the content of the interrogation.
In early October, Mr. Vinh was hospitalized at Phu Tho General Hospital to treat cardiovascular disease and take care of some health problems.
About security plan, Phu Tho Provincial Police said that the Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Support Police Department has coordinated with professional units to develop a specific plan. In addition to the 7 people currently in detention, the police must also ensure the safety of 85 cases released on bail. If someone does not appear in court, according to the decision of the People's Court, the assigned force will escort them.
The route from the detention camp to the People's Court of Phu Tho province was also carefully surveyed to have a protection plan. The working groups also had to ensure absolute safety for the Trial Council, the seized evidence, the large volume of documents, and those with related rights and obligations, lawyers, reporters coming to work as well as the people coming to watch.
"Each defendant has at least one family member accompanying them, so ensuring security and safety will be more stressful," said an authorized officer of Phu Tho Police.
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| The courtroom is nearly 1,000 square meters wide with about 120 benches. Photo: Pham Du. |
From the morning of November 12, the People's Court of Phu Tho province will open a 20-day trial of Mr. Phan Van Vinh and 91 accomplices.
The panel of judges consists of 5 members, chaired by Nguyen Thi Thuy Huong (Chief of the Economic Court - People's Court of Phu Tho province). To serve the questioning, the panel of judges plans to invite 73 people with related rights and obligations, 14 witnesses and three investigators from the Security Investigation Agency (Phu Tho Provincial Police).
Phu Tho Provincial People's Court arranges the courtroom in a court yard area of about 1,000 square meters.
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| The trial is expected to last 20 days. Photo: Pham Du. |
Mr. Vinh was arrested by the Phu Tho Provincial Police and the President stripped him of his title of People's Police in early April. In the indictment issued on August 31, the Phu Tho Provincial People's Procuracy prosecuted him for the crime ofAbusing position and power while performing official duties, according to Clause 2, Article 356, Penal Code 2015 with a penalty of five to 10 years in prison.
Nguyen Thanh Hoa is charged with the same crime as Mr. Vinh. The remaining 90 people in the case were prosecuted for the following crimes:Using the Internet to commit acts of property appropriation, Organizing gambling, Gambling, Illegal trading of invoices, Money laundering, Bribery.
Authorities determined that Nguyen Van Duong (Chairman of High-Tech Security Development Investment Company Limited - CNC), Phan Sao Nam (Chairman of VTC Online) and their accomplices used high technology to organize online gambling. This was done with the assistance of Mr. Vinh and Hoa, who are people with positions of authority in state agencies assigned to fight against high-tech crimes.
After 28 months of operation, the line has linked up with many service providers and built a system of 25 level I agents and nearly 6,000 level II agents to provide services of converting virtual points in games into real money and vice versa. The defendants are accused of having attracted nearly 43,000 accounts to register for online gambling, with a total illegal profit of more than VND9,850 billion.