Displaying items by tag: enquiry

A major new report has confirmed extensive police failings before and after the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, which killed 97 Liverpool fans - the UK’s worst sporting tragedy. After a decade-long investigation, the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that twelve officers would have faced charges of gross misconduct had they not already retired, leaving families devastated that no one will ever be held accountable. Those who lost loved ones in the crush condemned the outcome as another profound injustice. The report also criticised the initial police review as biased and found further evidence clarifying how police decisions, including the opening of an exit gate, led to the fatal overcrowding. Previous inquests concluded that supporters had been unlawfully killed and discredited early attempts to blame fans. Despite official apologies and admissions of catastrophic failure, no officer has ever been convicted. Families say the proposed ‘Hillsborough Law’ cannot compensate for truth acknowledged without accountability.

Prime minister Phuc has asked the public security and foreign ministries to investigate the trafficking of Vietnamese citizens into foreign countries after 39 people died in a refrigerated truck in Essex. Vietnam’s UK embassy and the British authorities are identifying the dead. Rural Vietnamese believe many of the dead came from their poor, rice-growing areas where families pay traffickers to take their youths abroad to work, save, repay traffickers the debt, and return home with enough money to buy land and build a home. The newly-built houses in poor districts are evidence of the money to be made, and saved, by working overseas (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50203096) Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam believes most of the dead were from his parish. ‘The whole district is covered in sorrow,’ Nam said, as prayers rang out over the town on loudspeakers. ‘This is a catastrophe for our community.’ See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-bodies/rural-vietnamese-mourn-loved-ones-feared-dead-in-back-of-british-truck-idUSKBN1X503U