Vietnam president orders review of farmer's death sentence

Public anger over harsh sentences in land dispute case persuades state to reconsider evidence

Activists have welcomed the Vietnamese president's order to review the case of farmers given severe sentences including the death penalty for murder over a land dispute.

The President's Office announced on July 17 that President Tran Dai Quang had asked the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuracy and the Ministry of Public Security to "review processes of investigations, prosecution and trial of the murder case and report to the president," Vietnam News Agency reported.

On July 12, the High-level People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the death penalty given to Dang Van Hien, a farmer found guilty of murder amid a land row between farmers and a private company.

Hien was convicted of shooting to death 3 men and injuring 13 others from the Long Son Trade and Investment Company.

The court had earlier reduced the sentences of farmers Ninh Viet Binh and Ha Van Truong who were also involved in the incident - from 20 to 18 years and from 12 to 9 years.

On Oct. 23, 2016, the Long Son Trade and Investment Company is said to have sent scores of workers and watchmen armed with knives, shields and tractors to destroy coffee trees, cashew trees and more crops grown by Hien and other farmers.

Hien claims he fired a warning shot into the air to stop them from entering his farm but the watchmen responded by throwing rocks at him. He said he then hid in his house and fired more shots at his attackers.

Ninh and Binh also shot at the alleged trespassers.

Many activists have hailed the president's order as a success in the fight for justice for those who have their land grabbed unfairly by corrupt officials and interest groups.

An online petition signed by more than 5,000 people asked government leaders to reduce Hien's sentence so as "to ensure the law's justice and the state's humanity and to strengthen our trust in the law."

"Please offer Hien an opportunity to resume a good life," they said.

On July 14, Hien's wife Mai Thi Khuyen sent messages to the President's Office, Government Inspectorate, Supreme People's Court and other state agencies. "We are completely depressed and disappointed by the death penalty imposed on my husband," she wrote.

"My husband's life now depends completely on your final decision," she said in her message to President Quang.

Khuyen asked the president to pardon Hien so that "he can live a new life and suffering caused by the case will be reduced."

Pastor Nguyen Manh Hung, a rights advocate, said on his Facebook page that the government was forced to reassess the unfair case by prevailing public opinion.

Source: ucanews.com, July 18, 2018

Vietnam arrests 3 Lao drug traffickers

Relevant forces of Vietnam's central Ha Tinh province on Tuesday detained three Lao men when they were transporting 25 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 52 cakes of heroin in a pickup truck.

The trio, aged 25, 35 and 51, reside in Laos' central Khammouane province, the Ha Tinh police said on Wednesday, adding that they wanted to sell the drugs to Vietnamese traffickers in the two central provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An.

According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.

Source: xinhuanet.com, July 18, 2018

Interpol notice issued for Vietnamese drug queen

An international arrest warrant has been issued for a Vietnamese woman said to be the ringleader of a transnational drug trafficking gang.

Vietnamese police say 61-year-old Vu Hoang Oanh is the leader of a massive drug trafficking ring that transported narcotics from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City.

When the ring was busted in May, police with the drug crimes fighting division under the Ministry of Public Security arrested seven people and seized 39 packs of heroin, 30 kilograms of methamphetamine and 100,000 ecstasy pills.

Oanh had already fled overseas then.

Police officers say Oanh has close connections with big names in the Cambodian underworld, with whom she cooperated to transport a large quantity of drugs to HCMC through a border gate in the Mekong Delta province of Long An before they were distributed to other areas.

She was also found to have rented a casino venue in Cambodia just a kilometer from the border with Vietnam and organized illegal gambling activities there.

In the first 5 months this year, Vietnamese police have confiscated approximately 880 kilograms of heroin, 500,000 ecstasy pills, 1.3 tons of cannabis and 2.5 tons of the chewing herb Khat (Catha edulis).

Compared to the same period last year, the amount of confiscated heroin has doubled and that of ecstasy pills increased by 30 %, the ministry said.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics, but it also has some of the world's toughest drug laws.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamines face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.

Source: vnexpress.net, July 18, 2018

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