VietNamNet Bridge – The Hai Phong City People's Court are considering disciplinary action against two city judges and a deputy chief judge in the city’s Tien Lang District for their wrongdoings related to a case of unlawful land withdrawal imposed on a local farmer, Doan Van Vuon, in Vinh Quang Commune.

Hai Phong suspends commune officials in controversial land seizure

Chief judge of the city court, Nguyen Thi Mai, said yesterday she has requested two judges, Ngo Van Anh and Le Thanh Ngoc, to submit their reports about their involvement in the issuance of the decision to suspend the appeal hearing for the case in which Vuon appealed the judgment of the Tien Lang People’s Court.

The city court will consult the Supreme People’s Court about the type of disciplinary action to be given to Anh and Ngoc.

As reported earlier, in January 2010 the district People’s Court unlawfully rejected the complaints by Vuon against the land withdrawal decision made by the local authorities.

Vuon appealed the judgment and during the appeal trial in April 2010, Ngo Van Anh, judge of the City People’s Court, ordered the creation of a written agreement between the parties concerned. Under the agreement, if Vuon revoked his complaint, the district authorities would continue to let them use the land.

After the complaint was withdrawn, however, and the City Court issued a decision to suspend the appeal hearing, the district authorities suddenly issued the forced removal decision to Vuon, leading to his violent response that caused injury to six police officers on January 5, 2012.

As for Pham Thi Nga, deputy chief judge of the Tien Lang People’s Court, who presided over the trial in which Vuon lost his case, Mai told Tuoi Tre on Tuesday, Feb 14, that she was waiting for opinions from the city Party Committee’s Standing Board before consulting the Supreme People’s Court about disciplinary action against Nga.

On February 13, the Supreme People’s Court issued a decision to protest the verdict arrived at by Hai Phong City’s Tien Lang District Court, and the city People’s Court’s decision to suspend Vuon’s appeal hearing against the district authorities’ withdrawal of 40 hectares of land allocated to him in 1993 and 1997.

The chief judge of the Supreme Court concluded that both the administrative verdict and the suspension decision be canceled and demanded that the case be re-investigated.

On Tuesday, Feb 14, the Tien Lang District’s Party Committee and government announced their respective decisions to suspend Phan Dang Hoan, secretary of the Vinh Quang Commune Party Committee, and Le Thanh Liem, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of the commune People’s Committee for their wrongdoings in the withdrawal and forced removal imposed on Vuon.

On February 7, Tien Lang district People’s Committee Le Van Hien and his deputy Nguyen Van Khanh were suspended for the same reasons.

After the violent resistance, Vuon and 3 other members of his family have been arrested and prosecuted on charges of attempted murder, while 2 other members, including Vuon’s wife, were indicted for resisting law enforcement officers on duty, but were let out on bail.

Farmer’s land lawsuit must be re-tried: Supreme Court

The Administrative Court of the Supreme People’s Court has said the lawsuit in which a farmer in Hai Phong City complained against unlawful decisions by the city’s district authorities on land withdrawal must be re-handled and that such decisions must be canceled.

The judgment was made in the re-hearing yesterday by the court after the Supreme Court’s chief judge protested the Tien Lang District Court’s verdict and the city People’s Court’s 2010 decision to suspend the appeal hearing of 49-year-old farmer Doan Van Vuon. Vuon’s appeal was an effort to overturn the district’s decision to withdraw 40 hectares of land allocated to him in Vinh Quang Commune.

After briefing the case and commenting that Vuon had carried out his lawsuit in accordance with the Ordinance on Procedure for Settlement of Administrative Cases, the jury of the Administrative Court said the district court had not fully applied applicable regulations in the Law on Land in handling the case.

The local court did not consult relevant agencies about the legality of the two land withdrawal decisions issued by the district People’s Committee in 2008 and 2009, either.

With such neglectful handling, the court rejected Vuon’s complaint in January 2010 and did not consider compensation.

In addition, the court judged that these decisions be kept unchanged while it had no authority to do so, the jury said.

Vuon appealed the judgment and Ngo Van Anh, judge of the City People’s Court, later ordered the creation of a written agreement between the parties concerned. Under the agreement, which was recently confirmed by the Supreme Court to have no legal validity, if Vuon revoked his complaint, the district authorities would continue to let them use the land.

On April 22, 2010, three days after the complaint was withdrawn, the city court opened the appeal hearing to suspend the case, without the Vuon’s presence in court and without examining issues related to Vuon’s revocation of his complaint.

Vuon's wife, Nguyen Thi Thuong, stand outside the tent where she and her children have stayed after their house was destroyed allegedly by local authorities on January 6, 2012

After the suspension, the district authorities suddenly issued the forced removal decision to Vuon, leading to his violent response that caused injury to six police officers on January 5, 2012. One day later, the 2-storey house owned by Vuon was demolished allegedly by local authorities.  

The Supreme People’s Court’s chief judge said in his protest that the city court had violated civil procedure when it neither postponed the hearing until Vuon attended it, nor clarified the contents of Vuon’s complaint revocation or telling him the effects of his revocation, but decided to suspend the case only based on the fact that Vuon had revoked his complaint.

Such action by the city court has violated Vuon’s legitimate rights and interests, the chief judge said.

After the representative of the Supreme People’s Procuracy spoke in favor of the protest, the jury decided to cancel both the district court’s verdict and the city court’s decision on suspension of the appeal hearing.

The jury also ordered the case be re-handled and re-tried by the Hai Phong City People’s Court in accordance with the relevant regulations and procedures.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre