.jpg "Enforcement of judgment in the case of uncle not handing over land use rights to niece in Viet Hoa ward (Hai Duong city)")
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On the morning of April 22, the High People's Court in Hanoi reopened the appeal hearing to consider the appeal of Ms. Tran Thi Hien (49 years old, mother of a female student delivering chicken in Dien Bien) for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.
The appeal hearing of the mother of the chicken delivery girl was opened at the headquarters of the People's Court of Dien Bien province.
At around 8am, the defendants were escorted into the courtroom. In addition to defendant Tran Thi Hien who filed an appeal, defendants Vi Van Toan, Luong Van Hung, Bui Van Cong... did not appeal but were summoned to court because they were related to Ms. Hien's case.
Toan, Hung, and Cong were all sentenced to death for murder, rape, and kidnapping for the purpose of appropriating property in the case of raping and murdering Ms. Hien's daughter on Tet 30, 2019.
During the procedure, when the judge checked her identity and asked about her daughter Cao My Duyen (who was raped and murdered), defendant Hien became emotional, cried and said "I am very miserable". The judge then reminded Ms. Hien to calm down, the jury was considering the case.
During the interrogation, Ms. Hien affirmed that she was "wrongly convicted" and maintained her appeal. The defendant said that due to poor health, she asked her lawyers to re-present the content of her appeal.
In the petition, defendant Hien said that the case was denounced by the very people who murdered her daughter, which was not objective, falsely accused, and blamed to justify and reduce their crimes.
The female defendant claimed that after her daughter Cao My Duyen was found dead, Toan, Cong, and Hung were arrested 9 days later. These people had time to discuss, exchange information with each other, and identify Ms. Hien to create false statements.
Ms. Hien affirmed that she did not know Toan, Cong or Hung and did not borrow money or sell drugs.
After the lawyer read the appeal, Ms. Hien continued to sob, saying, "Toan, Hung, Cong... killed my daughter. I have no grudge against the defendants, because they have received appropriate punishment. But I just hope they tell the truth so that I can be cleared of my name," Ms. Hien explained.
The jury then decided to take a 45-minute recess to allow defendant Hien to stabilize his mind.
In May 2022, the appeal hearing was opened, however, after review, the panel of judges found that there were many issues that needed to be clarified, such as conflicting statements of the defendants, appraisal results, field experiments, documents on the amount of money spent on drug trafficking, etc.
The appellate court then partially annulled the first instance judgment and reinvestigated the part related to Ms. Tran Thi Hien in the case of illegal drug trafficking.
This is the second appeal hearing of this case. In this case, the defendant Vi Thi Thu also appealed against her life sentence. However, the appeal court said there was no basis to accept the appeal, rejected the appeal, and upheld the original sentence for Ms. Thu.
In November 2019, the defendant Hien was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the court of first instance for illegal drug trafficking. After the first instance trial, Ms. Hien filed an appeal claiming her innocence.
In her appeal, she argued that she did not commit the crime as determined by the first instance verdict because she did not know and did not participate in drug trafficking with the other defendants.
The case file shows that in mid-May 2017, Bui Van Cong rode his motorbike to Ms. Hien’s house to buy chickens. There, defendant Hien asked Cong “do you have heroin to sell?” If so, he would buy 4 cakes. The two parties agreed on a purchase price of 160 million VND/cake.
After the negotiation, Cong went to Thu's house to order 4 heroin cakes for 150 million VND/cake. A few days later, Hien came to ask Cong if he had any heroin and the defendant replied "only 2 cakes". Hien agreed and said that when he had it, he would call to make an appointment to deliver it to the Thanh Hung cemetery.
At the cemetery, Cong called Hien. Hien received the goods, put them in a basket hanging on her motorbike, then gave Cong a blue bag containing 290 million VND, asking to owe him 30 million VND.
The entire transaction of the two heroin cakes between Cong and Hien was witnessed by Luong Van Hung. After the drug transaction, Hien turned the car towards the People's Committee of Thanh Hung commune. Cong and Hung brought 290 million VND to pay Vi Thi Thu, asking to owe her 10 million VND.
The prosecution agency determined that Ms. Hien was the one who initiated the issue and directly traded the 2 heroin cakes with Cong. Thu was the one who sought to buy the 2 heroin cakes to sell to Cong, and Vi Van Toan (Thu's husband) actively assisted.
During the first instance trial, Ms. Hien repeatedly claimed that she was wronged, claiming that the other defendants framed her. "If I had sold drugs, I would have had no regrets even if I died, because it would have been a white death. They were addicted to drugs so they kidnapped, raped, and killed my child," defendant Hien said.
The defendant said that Cong and Hung plotted to murder their daughter and then blame him, so their statements were incomplete and inconsistent about the amount of money.
.jpg "Hai Duong's agricultural, forestry and fishery value increased by 7.51% in the first quarter.")
