Militia members arrested for beating man to death for flouting Covid rules

By Tu Huynh February 14, 2022 | 05:56 pm PT

A community education center in Binh Thuan, where five militia members beat a man for violating Covid-19 protocols that resulted in his death. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Tu

Five militia personnel were arrested Monday in the central Binh Thuan Province for beating a man to death for violating social distancing restrictions in August 2021.

Tran Ngoc Duc, 31, Le Ngoc Qua, 27, Le Nhat Hai, 21, Nguyen Minh Tien, 26, and Nguyen Quang Minh, 23, are being investigated for "deliberate infliction of bodily harm on another person" and "illegal arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a person."

On August 31 the five were dispatched for patrolling and enforcing social distancing regulations when they found Tran Van Tri, 36, without identification documents and violating safety protocols.

They took him to a police station and assaulted him when he resisted.

At around 9 p.m. the same day they sent him home, but his injuries proved to be too severe and he succumbed to them within a few hours.

Besides assaulting him, they had also unlawfully detained Tri for four hours, the police said.