Dong Tam’s trial opening: Will the trial “have a very serious sentence”?

The trial trial related to the Dong Tam raid and ambush, which opened on September 7, 2020, is the focus of public attention within and outside of Vietnam who is interested in this case.

On Monday, September 7, some current observers told the Vietnamese BBC News what the public’s interest was around this trial in the first instance and what was noteworthy.

From Hanoi, freelance blogger and journalist Nguyen Huu Vinh, former Security Major at the Ministry of Public Security, told the BBC:

“People are more concerned with how the trial is organized and which signs show fairness and legal compliance at trial or not.

“For example, if people can come to listen, then attend or not, or if the relatives of the accused can enter the court normally or not. Of course, in the beginning, one could also be interested in court proceedings. ”

“Those are things that have caught the attention of the public, but above all I find that the press is not interested in reporting a case as big as this and the press seems to be avoiding it.”

“That, I think, is a sign that the authorities should take into account. I know the mentality of journalists, it is very difficult for them to report this. ”

“If for a long time, since the incident (January 9, 2020) until now, of course they have taken all the information from the Ministry of Public Security, but now that the trial has been carried out, they must appear. information they got in court. ”

“And at least they have to show a little bit of political opinion on it, and so I guess they probably won’t follow the instructions above and maybe they have to understand how to say it, so they are very torn by this.”

“If they put the style from January 2020 until now, then maybe they have to face public opinion, the public is very bad and internally, I think they are not easy. According to the way, if they continue to denounce in a long time, what information from the Ministry of Public Security, what information the prosecution gives, they cannot do that.

From the city of Hanau, Germany, lawyer and human rights activist Nguyen Van Dai told the BBC:

“On the side of the legal profession, I pay attention to how the trial panel will respond to the recommendations that attorneys have sent to the trial panel previously.

“Rereading the news about the trial, I heard that the Trial Panel also expressed a request, the lawyers proposed to summon several witnesses, including Ms. Du Thi Thanh (his wife Le Dinh Kinh), the trial panel said yes , during the interrogation, it was necessary, he would summon Ms. Du Thi Thanh.

“Secondly, the lawyers proposed to return the files to re-investigate from the beginning, the trial panel also said that during the trial of the case, it was necessary to stop the trial and return the files to the Institute. Procurator, or the agency to investigate again, will also accept it.

“This is kind of weird because before, for the above cases, the lawyers suggested that the Trial Panel used to fire from the beginning, bluntly, but this time they said they would wait.

“But I hope that if with so many lawyers and there are too many violations in the procedures that the lawyers have pointed out, I hope that the case will be temporarily suspended to return the records to the investigating agency to re-investigate.

“And I hope that during the interrogation, waiting for the testimonies of those qualified with a direct link with the ‘death’ of the three policemen, it will come out, hopefully the press will truthfully report the statements of those defendants in court” .

From Hanoi, writer Nguyen Nguyen Binh, a former lieutenant colonel in the Vietnam People’s Army, told the BBC:

“I think the results of this test will be very sad for people, especially for my desk in Dong Tam.

“I don’t know if there is a ‘death penalty’ or not, but once it is labeled ‘murder’ and ‘against the person on duty’, it must be very strong.

“What if they deliberately condemned such sentences? I think in the past, people’s belief in status and leadership was already very low, but now just bring this up and do it. To such an extent, I think belief boils down to negative numbers. “

“I think they still rely on their power, ‘muzzled’ violence to suppress them, their XIII Congress of the Communist Party is going to take place, but even within them, there are still conflicts. contradiction, and then contested many things.

“So now people are very confused, but perhaps no one can do anything to them, the authorities, whatever they want, they will do it, if they don’t know one day they will lose the country, or there will be a game that is like the spring that ignites.

“When I turned it on, I was afraid it would turn into anarchy, then it went crazy, so I was very worried. But now I feel that they are still determined to use violence to rule the country, but nothing has changed.

Also from Hanoi, Associate Professor Nguyen Hoang Anh, researcher and university lecturer commented to the BBC on the trial and the case:

“I see the modern model of conflict management, you have to manage it as soon as it happens, the risk of conflict occurs.

“Actually, to eliminate conflict, there are two ways in the world, the first is how people will use violence and the second is modern management now, which means starting from when there could be risks.

“Done after that, if there is a risk, then one has to take the measures that everyone knows, including telling the whole truth to regain confidence, but that we know is never going to happen in Vietnam.

“All conflict managers say, as we all know, that will not happen in Vietnam, so I see 100% of all conflicts, if you consider and relate to the problem. Political issues always end with the handling of violence.

“And if the so-called ‘mustache’ can be granted, then people will wear a populist way, in the case of Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee at the time, For Dong Tam, in my opinion, wanted to use the populist way.

“It was a rare case, but then we don’t know how the path did not continue and we see that even Mr. Chung’s conflict risk management is not management. from the modern point of view, it means following the process from the root of the risk; one has not.

“So, not just in this trial, not just Dong Tam, but if the government at some point learns how to handle the risk of conflict more methodically, then let tragedies like Dong Tam, like that, no longer happen.”

Click on the following link to follow an interview, comment on BBC News Vietnamese July 9, 2020 on the trial in the first instance to hear the case of ‘murder’ killing ‘three policemen’ in Dong Tam commune, district of My Duc, Hanoi City, on January 9.