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VIETNAM 7 <br />Authorities also subjected religious and political activists to varying degrees of <br />informal detention in their residences. For example, Ho Chi Minh City local police <br />continued to monitor prominent activists Nguyen Dan Que and Do Nam Hai <br />closely. <br />Pretrial Detention: The investigative period typically lasted from three months for <br />less serious offenses (punishable by up to three years' imprisonment) to 16 months <br />for exceptionally serious offenses (punishable by more than 15 years' <br />imprisonment or capital punishment) or more than two years for national security <br />cases. However, at times investigations lasted indefinitely. By law the procuracy <br />may also request additional two -month periods of detention after an investigation <br />to consider whether to prosecute a detainee or ask police to investigate further. <br />Investigators sometimes used physical abuse, isolation, excessively lengthy <br />interrogation sessions, and sleep deprivation to compel detainees to confess. <br />By law detainees are permitted access to lawyers from the time of their detention; <br />however, authorities used bureaucratic delays to deny access to legal counsel. In <br />cases investigated under national security laws, authorities prohibited defense <br />lawyers' access to clients until after an investigation had ended and the suspect had <br />been formally charged with a crime, most often after approximately four months. <br />Under regulations, investigations may be continued and access to counsel denied <br />for more than two years. In addition a scarcity of trained lawyers and insufficient <br />protection of defendant rights made prompt detainee access to an attorney rare. In <br />practice only juveniles and persons formally charged with capital crimes were <br />assigned lawyers. <br />Attorneys must be informed of and allowed to attend interrogations of their clients. <br />However, a defendant first must request the presence of a lawyer, and it was <br />unclear whether authorities always informed defendants of this right. Attorneys <br />also must be given access to case files and be permitted to make copies of <br />documents. Attorneys were sometimes able to exercise these rights. <br />Police generally informed families of detainees' whereabouts, but family members <br />could visit a detainee only with the permission of the investigator, and this <br />permission was not regularly granted. During the investigative period, authorities <br />routinely denied detainees access to family members, especially in national <br />security cases. Before a formal indictment, detainees also have the right to notify <br />family members, although a number of detainees suspected of national security <br />violations were held incommunicado. There is no functioning bail system or <br />