VietNamNet Bridge – Police of the northern port city of Hai Phong have determined those who were involved in demolishing the house and assets of Doan Van Vuon and Doan Van Quy in the land revocation in Tien Lang district, Hai Phong.


According to Hai Phong police, these people include: Vu Doan Ket, 40, Do Van Doan, 44 and Dang Van Tai, 27 from Tien Hung commune, Tien Lang district.

These people declared that the land revocation board of the local government hired them to destroy Vuon and Quy’s house. Earlier, the local authorities insisted that they did not know who leveled Vuon and Quy’s two-storey house, which house was not located within the area subject to the forced removal. Some officials even said that local people who were angry with Vuon’s family destroyed the house.

Do Van Doan said that on January 6, the land revocation board hired his bulldozer to demolish Vuon’s house and lagoon. The bulldozer was driven by Dang Van Tai, Doan’s nephew. They were paid VND500,000 ($25) per hour.  

Tai also admitted that he participated in demolishing Vuon and Quy’s house, at the request of the land revocation board.

Hai Phong police have also summoned other people, including Le Van Hien, Chairman and  Nguyen Van Khanh, Vice Chairman of Tien Lang District; Pham Dang Hoan, Party Secretary and Le Thanh Liem, Chairman of Vinh Quang commune, to investigate the destruction of Vuon and Quy’s house and lagoon, according to accusation made by Vuon and Quy’s wives.

At a press conference on February 7, the Hai Phong City Party Committee announced that it has suspended the chairman of Tien Lang District People’s Committee Le Van Hien and his deputy Nguyen Van Khanh for their wrongdoings in withdrawing the land that was allocated to Vuon in 1993.

The Committee also asked the city police to step up their investigation into the house’s destruction and prosecute those who had been involved.

In an interview with VNExpress online newswire, Hai Phong Party Secretary Nguyen Van Thanh admitted that although the local authorities are wrong or right, the Tien Lang land withdrawal case has made a stir in public opinion and this is a big lesson for the city.

Thanh said that the Hai Phong Party Committee would take responsibility about the case before the Politburo, the Central Party Secretariat and Hai Phong people.

Hai Phong’s Vice Chair Dan Duc Hiep said that Vuon’s family can possibly continue hiring the land.

In another development, lawyer Nguyen Viet Hung, who was requested by Vuon as his defense counsel in the case, told Tuoi Tre Daily that he had not obtained a defense counsel’s certificate from the Hai Phong City Police Department due to “incomplete dossiers.”

As earlier reported, after the violent resistance, Vuon and three other members of his family were arrested and prosecuted on charges of attempted murder, while two other members, including Vuon’s wife, were indicted for resisting law enforcement officers on duty, but were let out on bail.

So far, at least six ministries and agencies have investigated the case, including: the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Vietnam Farmers’ Association, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Justice and perhaps the Ministry of Defence in the near future, at the request of the Tien Lang District Aquaculture Society.

On February 10, PM Nguyen Tan Dung will attend a meeting with officials of relevant agencies to consider the case.

Kien Trung – Minh Anh