Viet Nam National Assembly says innocence must be presumed

National Assembly Law Committee Chairman Phan Trung Ly said all suspects should be viewed as innocent instead of being marked guilty at the beginning of investigations by law enforcement officers  Phan Trung Ly

Hanoi, Aug.24(VNS).─ The legal principle of presuming those being investigated were innocent unless proven guilty must be respected until a verdict was announced, the National Assembly Standing Committee said at its regular meeting yesterday.

This was part of discussions on amendments to the Penal Code brought up for discussion at the meeting.

Wrong thinking

National Assembly Law Committee Chairman Phan Trung Ly said all suspects should be viewed as innocent instead of being marked guilty at the beginning of investigations by law enforcement officers, who then only focused on digging for evidence to convict.

He said such thinking must be strictly banned to prevent wrong convictions, such as that of Nguyen Thanh Chan.

Chan spent up to 10 years in prison on a false murder charge until released and given compensation of about VND7.2 billion (US$330,000) in June ...

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