At the press conference for the third quarter of 2016 held on the morning of October 17, answering reporters' questions about the People's Court of Binh Thuan province recently only accepting to compensate 2.6 billion VND for Mr. Huynh Van Nen's 17 years of wrongful imprisonment.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Deputy Director of the State Compensation Department, the Ministry of Justice is coordinating with the Supreme People's Court to urge and direct the People's Court of Binh Thuan province to pay compensation according to regulations to Mr. Huynh Van Nen.

Mr. Huynh Van Nen.

Up to now, the People's Court of Binh Thuan province has organized 4 negotiation sessions to compensate Mr. Nen and his family. Regarding the reason why the third time agreed to compensate Mr. Nen over 10 billion VND but the fourth time only accepted over 2.6 billion VND, Mr. Hung said that in terms of law, it must be carefully considered because according to current law, the damages Mr. Nen is compensated for are very limited.

Mr. Nen is a farmer and lives in Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan, so his mental damage and actual income during the time before he was exonerated were very low, so the compensation level is very low if calculated according to the level of labor and income in the locality.

“He may also be compensated for things like child support, and expenses incurred during the years his wife and children spent appealing for his innocence. However, the cost of visitation and appeal for his innocence for more than ten years is difficult to calculate because it is not regulated by current law.

In addition, determining the income lost during his time in prison is also very difficult, because he is a farmer and his income is unstable. However, I believe that the People's Court of Binh Thuan province will base on the provisions of the law to implement correctly.

As an advisory body on state compensation, we have clearly seen the shortcomings in the current Law on State Compensation Liability to propose appropriate amendments that are closer to reality, in order to adjust and increase the compensation level," Mr. Hung expressed.

Previously, after three negotiations, the amount of money that the People's Court of Binh Thuan province agreed to compensate for the wrongful conviction of Mr. Huynh Van Nen and his family (residing in Tan Minh town, Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan province) was 10.5 billion VND.

However, Mr. Nen's family still maintains their position of requesting compensation of more than 14.1 billion VND. At the 4th negotiation session that took place a few days ago, the People's Court of Binh Thuan province only agreed to compensate Mr. Nen and his family with a total amount of 2.6 billion VND.

According to CAND