Mini apartment fire in Hanoi: What sentence will the homeowner face?

56 people died in a mini apartment fire in Hanoi

Regarding the mini apartment fire in Hanoi, on the evening of September 13, Hanoi City Police informed that the investigation agency has issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused and issue an arrest warrant to temporarily detain Nghiem Quang Minh (born in 1979, currently residing in Yen Hoa, Cau Giay, Hanoi) for 4 months.

Mr. Minh is the owner of the apartment building where the fire broke out at house number 37, alley 29/70, Khuong Ha street, Khuong Dinh ward, Thanh Xuan district.

The owner of this mini apartment is being investigated for violating fire prevention and fighting regulations under Article 313 of the Penal Code.

The decisions and arrest warrants have been approved by the City People's Procuracy.

According to Hanoi Police, as of the evening of September 13, authorities had identified 56 dead and 37 injured, of which 39/56 dead had been identified.

Currently, the Director of the City Police Department is directing the Investigation Police Agency to continue, urgently investigate, strictly handle according to the provisions of the law and actively coordinate with the departments, branches of Hanoi City and the People's Committee of Thanh Xuan District to visit, encourage and support the victims' families.

Legal responsibility of apartment owners

From a legal perspective, Dr. Dang Van Cuong, a law professor, said that this was an especially serious fire, causing great damage to property and human casualties, so the investigation agency will investigate and clarify the cause and the homeowner's responsibility in ensuring fire safety to handle it according to the law.

The authorities will clarify whether this is a mini apartment or a rented room. If it is a mini apartment, how is the licensing and approval for fire prevention and fighting carried out and implemented?

In the case of a rental room or a house rental business with such a large number of floors and rooms, has the design to ensure fire safety been approved by the competent authority or not? How is fire safety ensured?

Mr. Cuong said that according to the law, apartment buildings, including mini apartments and rental business buildings, must ensure technical safety standards for fire prevention and fighting, and must be approved by competent authorities on conditions to ensure fire prevention and fighting safety. During the operation of the building, it is also necessary to ensure fire prevention and fighting safety.

In case the verification results of the competent authority show that this building did not ensure fire safety according to the provisions of law, leading to the fire occurring, causing serious consequences, the investigation agency will initiate a case and prosecute the homeowner for violating the provisions of fire prevention and fighting, which is correct according to the regulations.

According to the law, those who violate fire prevention and fighting regulations causing serious consequences will be criminally prosecuted, the highest penalty for this crime can be up to 12 years in prison if the consequences cause the death of 3 people or more or property damage of 1.5 billion VND or more.

Thus, if proven guilty, the owner of the mini apartment building in the case may face the above penalty.

In addition, the authorities will clarify the cause of the fire, clarify the conditions for ensuring fire safety in the building to determine who is responsible for ensuring fire safety, the cause of the fire to investigate legal responsibility.

The expert added that this was a very serious fire, occurring in a building with many people living in a narrow area, making it difficult to fight the fire.

Therefore, in addition to reviewing and clarifying the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals in ensuring fire safety, the authorities also need to inspect and review the activities of renting houses, renting rooms, and especially mini apartments that do not ensure fire safety conditions in densely populated areas to avoid similar fires that may occur.