Officers await punishment after two death-row inmates escape Hanoi detention center
Monday, September 18, 2017, 14:30 GMT+7
Multiple officers from a detention facility in Hanoi have been suspended from duty following the prison break of two death-row inmates earlier this month who were re-captured on the weekend.
Senior Lieutenant Colonel Dinh Trong Hai, supervisor of the T16 detention center in the capital’s rural Thanh Oai District, along with several of his deputies and officers have been temporarily banned from working while their responsibility for the escape is reviewed.
A source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said that over 10 people have been subject to the suspension following a decision of the Ministry of Public Security on Sunday.
According to leaders of the ministry, the officers responsible will be strictly sanctioned once results of the investigation are in.
An official from the Ministry of Public Security has taken over as the new supervisor of the detention facility during the probe.
The officers have been accused of negligence that led to the September 10 escape of two inmates, Le Van Tho and Nguyen Van Tinh, who had both been sentenced to death for multiple offenses.
Tinh, 28, was sentenced to death by the People’s Court of Hanoi in April for his involvement in a narcotics ring.
His previous offenses included harboring or consuming property acquired through the commission of crime by others.
Tho, 37, received the death penalty in May when the People’s Court of Ha Nam Province in northern Vietnam found him guilty of dealing in narcotics, murder, and property appropriation.
His previous convictions included murder, kidnapping for ransom, illegal use of military firearms, bribery, robbery, and property appropriation.
The two had been held in the same solitary confinement at the T16 detention center while awaiting execution.
They were discovered missing from their cell on September 10.
Following relentless search efforts, officers were able to arrest Tho on Saturday in the northern province of Hai Duong, and Tinh on Sunday in northern Hoa Binh Province.
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