Vietnamese lawmakers debated Thursday last week the separation of detention houses from the management of police at the province and district levels to prevent abuse, torture, and coerced confessions.

The debate took place during a meeting of the justice committee under the law-making National Assembly to review two draft laws on human detention and the organization of criminal investigation agencies.

The suggestion was offered given the reality that many cases of torture and abuse of detainees by investigative police have been reported during interrogations.

However, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, Deputy Minister of Public Security, argued at the meeting that the current management model is still suitable and it thus should be maintained.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, a standing member of the justice committee, suggested putting prisons and detention houses under the administration of the General Department of Criminal Sentence Enforcement and Justice Support belonging to the Ministry of Public Security.

“The justice committee thinks the laws should include articles about the design of interrogation rooms in detention facilities and the supervision work during questioning to prevent torture,” Cuong said.

Le Thi Nga, the vice chairwoman of the justice committee, proposed separating detention houses from the management of the district-level police departments and prisons from the province-level police departments.

“When a detention house is still managed by district police, violations during interrogations are almost inevitable,” Nga stressed.

“We insist that detention houses be separated from police.”

Pham Xuan Thuong, a standing member of the justice committee, raised another issue about the costly investment to build new detention houses across the nation.

He also suggested specifying the responsibility of warders and detention facility chiefs in order to stop torture and coerced confessions in addition to such measures as the installation of cameras or recorders in interrogation rooms.

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