Ha Noi Court apologises to wrongly-sentenced man

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ha Noi Superior People’s Court on Monday (December 25) held a meeting to publicly apologise to Vu Ngoc Duong for giving him a wrong sentence of 30 months in jail.

The Ha Noi Superior People’s Court on Monday held a meeting to publicly apologise to Vu Ngoc Duong for giving him a wrong sentence of 30 months in jail. — Photo congly.vn

Duong, 30, living at 232 Kham Thien Street, Tho Quan Ward, Dong Da District, was wrongly sentenced for “abusing trust to appropriate properties”.

Representatives of municipal judicial agencies, the city People’s Committee and People’s Council attended the meeting.

Duong will receive compensation for physical and spiritual damages. The Appeal Court of Ha Noi Superior People’s Court is responsible for the compensation following the Law on State Compensation Liability.

In 2010, Bui Van Chinh, director of Dong Anh humanitarian job orientation and vocational training centre in Hanoi, denounced Duong for abusing his volunteer position at the centre to appropriate VND100 million (US$4,340), which was donated by other companies to the centre.

Following reports from three witnesses — Nguyen Van Hien, Duong Dieu Thu, Nguyen Thi Thanh Van — who have benefits and responsibilities in the case, and upon inspection of hand-written letters and signatures on related documents, Duong was prosecuted for “abusing trust to appropriate properties”.

In the first hearing in 2012, the Ha Noi People’s Court sentenced Duong to 30 months in jail for “abusing trust to appropriate properties”, according to Article 140 of the Penal Code.

Duong then submitted an appeal, claiming his innocence.

At the appeal court in September 2013, the Court of Appeal of the Ha Noi People’s Supreme Court dismissed Duong’s appeal.

Duong then submitted another appeal asking for a re-inspection of the letters and signatures.

An investigative body of the Supreme People’s Procuracy found that Duong’s hand-written letters and signatures were faked by Duong Dieu Thu, Duong’s aunt and Nguyen Thi Thanh Van.

From April 2010 to May 2011, they faked the hand-written letters and signatures of Duong on documents and then denounced Duong for appropriating money from the centre.

In early 2015, the Supreme People’s Court decided to cancel the first instance and appeal verdicts on Duong.

In May 2015, an investigation started on Duong Dieu Thu and her accomplices for faking documents.

Duong Dieu Thu and Nguyen Thi Thanh Van received a sentence of 40 months in jail each for slandering and counterfeiting seals and documents of agencies and organisations. 

In March 2016, the investigative body of the Ha Noi Police decided to cancel the investigation into Duong due to evidence confirming that Duong did not commit the charge of “abusing trust to appropriate properties”.

Based on regulations of the Law on State Compensation Liability, judicial agencies affirmed that Duong will receive a public apology and compensation for the wrongful conviction. 

Source: VNS