Schizophrenia still organizes online gambling
(Baonghean.vn) - Phan Cuong has a bad personal history, has been punished for gambling but continues to operate an online gambling room. Cuong is diagnosed with unspecified schizophrenia.
On August 23, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened an appeal trial of defendant Phan Cuong (born 1988), residing in Vinh City, for the crime of "Gambling" and"Gambling organization"Defendant Nguyen The Cuong (born 1987), residing in Vinh City, for the crime of "Gambling".
According to the case file, in early 2022, Phan Cuong downloaded an online gambling application to play games to win real money. In July 2022, Cuong was upgraded by the bookie to his game account, from which he opened a club (called a game room) "HEAVEN 37".
Phan Cuong introduced 36 members to participate in gambling, including Nguyen The Cuong, and provided Chips (a form of money used for gambling) to play.
On August 2, 2022, Phan Cuong sold The Cuong 1000 Chips (equivalent to 25 million VND) to gamble in the club.
In addition, on March 1, 2022, Phan Cuong used another gambler's borrowed account to buy many chips (equivalent to more than 22 million VND) to gamble.
Phan Cuong and his agents and members agreed to pay the money in 10 days, but before the date came, he was arrested by the police. On August 9, 2022, Nguyen The Cuong went to the police to surrender for gambling.
During the investigation, Phan Cuong showed signs of mental illness, so the police investigation agency requested a psychiatric assessment, concluding that before, during and after committing the crime and at the time of assessment, Cuong had unspecified schizophrenia.
The court of first instance sentenced Phan Cuong to 3 years in prison for Gambling, 3 years in prison for Organizing Gambling; defendant Nguyen The Cuong was sentenced to 4 years in prison for Gambling and an additional fine of 10 million VND.
The two defendants then appealed for a reduction in their sentences. At the appeal hearing, the two defendants did not present any new details compared to the first instance court. Nguyen The Cuong provided his son’s medical records and explained his difficult circumstances to request a reduction in his sentence.
The Court of Appeal determined that Phan Cuong's act of using an unauthorized online gambling website to organize gambling was a case of using the Internet, computer networks, and telecommunications networks to commit crimes, so it was sufficient to constitute the crime of Organizing Gambling.
The act of using the Internet to participate in gambling in the form of online games with prizes in cash by Phan Cuong and Nguyen The Cuong is a crime of gambling.
At this trial, the two defendants did not present new details compared to the first instance court, so the appellate panel rejected the appeal of the two defendants, upholding the 6-year prison sentence for 2 crimes against Phan Cuong and 4-year prison sentence for defendant Nguyen The Cuong.
