A court in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday sentenced a former traffic police officer to 12 years in prison for asking thugs to beat a traffic violator to death, following an argument.
Pham Sy Hoai Nhu, 35, was sentenced under assault charges. Nguyen Minh Chung, who was asked to attack the victim, also received 12 years. Three others got between five and 11 years.
Investigators found Nhu headed a checkpoint in Tan Binh District on the night of June 25, 2015 when his team pulled over an apparently drunk Nguyen Van Chin.
The officers decided to confiscate Chin’s bike after he failed an alcohol test.
The latter refused to sign the police report on his violation. A quarrel then broke out between him and the team. He then reportedly walked away.
Nhu then called Chung and asked him to beat the traffic violator.
Chung, together with three others, lured the victim to an empty site by promising to help him get his bike back. They beat him unconscious.
Chin managed to walk to a street corner where a traffic officer hailed a taxi to take him home. On his way, Chin asked to be taken to a hospital. He died hours later, at age 44.
An autopsy report said he died from severe abdominal injuries.
The four men involved in the attack either turned themselves in or were arrested soon after that.
Nhu was only dismissed about three months later, and taken into custody in November 2015.
Investigations by local media after that came up with similar stories of police asking thugs to attack disobedient traffic violators. But police have dismissed such allegations.
The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 ranked the police force as the most corrupt institution in Vietnam.
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