A 63-year-old, one-legged man had to abandon his wheelchair and dragged himself upstairs unassisted to submit papers to a Ho Chi Minh City court which, again, turned him down for the third time.
Tuoi Tre reporters happened to be at the District 4 People’s Court on Friday and interviewed him.
An Van Chau said he was turned down the first time when he had a friend submit the papers for him while he was waiting outside. An officer told his friend Chau must submit in person.
The second time, a female court officer came down to meet him but told him to come next time with additional documents.
On Friday, after he came, a security guard told him the officer who received him last time was absent and the others were too busy.
That’s why I climbed upstairs to directly meet them, Chau told Tuoi Tre.
“I’m a human. I don’t want to look that pathetic, but as they refused to come down, I have to go upstairs”.
But this time the court also rejected his papers. Chau said an officer named Minh told him to contact the City People’s Court as his court – the district one – did not have enough jurisdiction since a party involved is away in Canada.
Chau said he should have been told in the first place.
He ‘climbed’ down, politely declining reporters’ help and shaking his head from time to time.
When Tuoi Tre were interviewing Chau downstairs, a woman who introduced herself as deputy presiding judge of the district court told them to “go away.”
She spoke out loud that reporters were not allowed to do their job without court’s permission.
She also called security guards to send the reporters out.
According to lawyer Nguyen Huu The Trach of the HCMC Bar Association, it is unacceptable for the court to let a disabled person crawl on the stairs.
The officers should have gone downstairs to receive him and take the papers, he said, adding there are certain regulations requiring civil servants to privilege disabled persons.
Another Lawyer, Nguyen Minh Thuan said the officers in this case did not fulfill their duties.
Chau has been using the wheelchair for 30 years.
A court in Ho Chi Minh City Monday handed down a life sentence to a former high-ranking beauracrat for taking US$262,000 in bribes from a Japanese firm in 2003.
A court in Ho Chi Minh City Friday handed down a 26-year-jail term to the former head of Hoc Mon District for accepting VND1.4-billion (US$71,942) in bribes and abusing power to approve two infrastructure projects.