What are penalties for the act of illegal arrest or detention in Vietnam?

The act of illegal arrest, detention, or imprisonment is specifically construed as follows:

- Arresting people illegally is without an order from a competent person, not in the case of a red-handed crime, not in the case of arresting a person with a wanted warrant or having an arrest warrant but not following the correct procedures.

- Illegal detention is the act of ordering the temporary detention of a person in contravention of the provisions of law, without the order of a competent person; detaining overdue persons; detaining persons who are not subject to temporary detention.

- Illegal imprisonment refers to a person who lacks the authority to illegally imprison others in a specific location and for a specific period of time.

The crime of arresting, detaining, or imprisoning people against the law is specified in Article 157 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2017) as follows:

"1. Any person who arrests, detains, or imprisons another person against the law, except in the circumstances specified in Article 153 and Article 377 hereof, shall face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 06 - 36 months' imprisonment.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The offender misuses his/her position or power to commit the offence;

c) The offence is committed against a law enforcement officer in performance of his/her official duties;

d) The offence has been committed more than once;

dd) The offence is committed against more than one person;

e) The offence is committed against a person under 18, a women whose pregnancy is known by the offender, an elderly, sick, or defenseless person.

g) The offence results in extreme financial hardship of the victim or his/her family;

h) The offence results in damage to physical or mental health of the victim and the victim’s WPI is assessed at 31% - 60%.

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances shall carry a penalty of 05 - 12 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence results in the victim's death or suicide;

b) The victim is tortured or treated in a brutal and inhuman way, or the victim's dignity is destroyed;

c) The offence results in damage to physical or mental health of the victim and the victim’s WPI is assessed at ≥ 61%.

4. The offender might be forbidden from holding certain positions for 01 - 05 years."

Below is the judgement related to the crime of illegal arrest, detention and imprisonment

Judgment No. 25/2021/HSST on the crime of illegal arrest has the following contents:

On April 2, 2020, Ms. Th stole property, including a motorbike and an Oppo F1S mobile phone, and then ran away from T's house. Due to anger, T asked Nguyen Tien D, Pham Anh P, Le Van D, and Nguyen Hoang L to go find Ms. Th, and if they saw Ms. T anywhere, they took her to T's house so that T could interrogate Ms. Th for stealing T's property. At noon on April 6, 2020, Seeing that Ms. T was with her friend, L and P chased after her and forced the front of Ms. Thuong's car to stop. Here, L and P forced Ms. Th to get on a motorbike and questioned her about the origin of the property that Ms. Th had taken from T. Ms. T said that the phone had been dropped and the motorcycle had been mortgaged. 600,000 VND. Ms. T drove a motorcycle to take Ms. T to T's house and beat her, forcing her to reveal where the property that Ms. Th had stolen from T was. T used an iron chain. One end used a lock to chain Thuong's legs. At the other end of the chain, T punched a hole in the wall to bring the chain out and re-attach it in order not to let Thuong take it off and leave it. hide. During the time that Ms. Thuong's legs were chained, T constantly let her guard take care of Thuong and only removed the chain for Ms. Th when she needed to go to the toilet. At about 23 o'clock, he removed the chain for Ms. Th to sleep.

The People's Court of Long Khanh City, Dong Nai Province decided to declare: Defendants Nguyen Van T, Le Van D, Nguyen Tien D, Pham Anh P, and Nguyen Hoang L committed the crime of "Illegal arrest of people."

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