Three former prison officials stand trial for beating an inmate to death.
After refusing to work, the 17-year-old inmate was repeatedly beaten with rubber batons by prison officers and subsequently died.
The Long An Provincial People's Court recently heard the appeal of the case involving prison guards at Long Hoa Prison (General Department VIII, Ministry of Public Security).Using tortureIt caused the death of a 17-year-old inmate a year ago.
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Three former prison officials at the trial. Photo:Annam |
According to the indictment, in October 2017, Chau Minh Nhut (22 years old, a conscript soldier), Nguyen Phuoc Thuan (36 years old), and Nguyen Minh Huan (26 years old) were assigned to be in charge of two teams of juvenile offenders.
On the morning of October 20th, three prison officers successively summoned four inmates, including Lai Quoc Huy, who had only been serving their sentences for three days, into an office in the chair-weaving workshop to question them about their reasons for abandoning labor. They forced these men to lie face down on the floor and beat them on their buttocks, thighs, and legs with rubber batons.
Around noon, the defendants called Huy in again, asked for his reason, and forced him to lie down on the floor. The victim struggled, but two other inmates present handcuffed him. The officers repeatedly beat Huy with rubber batons, then handcuffed him to the wall.
By early afternoon, the defendants discovered Huy had fainted, so they removed the handcuffs and took him to the hospital, but the victim had already died.
In the previous trial, the court sentenced the three former prison officials to prison terms ranging from 2 years to 3 years and 6 months.
At the appeal hearing, the three defendants admitted their guilt. However, the victim's lawyer argued that the lower court had not clarified the defendants' actions that led to the victim's head injuries.
The court adjourned the trial, which will resume on December 18th.