Falsely accused, two brothers entangled in the law

Living in an attic in Tan Dinh ward (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), these days Ho Thanh Trang (28 years old) still works as a construction worker to help his wife pay off her debts. But since the day he and his brother Ho Thanh Dong (30 years old) were cleared of robbery, their lives have been filled with laughter. It has ended nearly four years of being imprisoned, prosecuted, and living in despair for him and his family.

"Thinking back, sometimes I feel like I've just gone through a nightmare. Since the day I was falsely accused, I haven't been back to visit my hometown. Even though I was released on bail more than a year ago, I didn't dare go anywhere because I still have the status of a defendant. Now it's different. On the third day of Tet, I will bring my wife and children back to burn incense for my ancestors," Trang said.

Trang was born in the poor countryside of Hau Giang. He had three siblings and at the age of 14 he had to work as a construction worker to earn money to support his family.

In 2008, Trang followed his brother to Saigon to work and became friends with Danh Lang and Phan Thanh Tien. All three lived in a boarding house in District 7. Not long after, Trang and Lang pursued a beautiful young woman who was a worker in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone. She was the daughter of a close colleague.

Unable to win the girl's affection, Lang deliberately made her pregnant and then left. While drinking coffee, Trang saw Lang passing by on his motorbike, so he called her back, intending to inform her family. Later, when Lang found out about the incident, he called Trang to threaten her. From then on, they cut off contact. A year later, Trang got married.

One day in early January 2014, the police suddenly came to their rented room and arrested Trang and his brother, to the shock of their family. The investigation agency said that Lang and Tien robbed property at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, both of them said that Trang's brother also participated.

"It was then that I realized that Lang had not forgotten his old grudge and deliberately dragged me into this case. I told him, but the investigator did not believe me. Under pressure from the investigator, I had to admit that I was an accomplice along with my brother. In the days that followed, I always felt guilty for getting my brother involved," said Trang.

He said that when he was first arrested, his spirit was broken because of the harsh life in prison and because he missed his wife and children. But what made him suffer the most was that even many of his relatives did not believe that he was innocent.

"My wife was half-believing at that time, and my mother-in-law said 'there's no way they'd arrest me'. It wasn't until the press reported on the case, knowing exactly when the robbery happened, that she believed I was innocent. Because that night I was drinking with her, my mother-in-law and my uncles in the family," Trang recalled.

Two young wives tirelessly appeal for justice for their husbands

On the day her husband was arrested and the landlord took back their rented room, Ms. Tam (Trang’s wife) had to take her 9-month-old son to temporarily live in her mother’s attic in Tan Dinh ward. She had to take care of her son and could not go to work, so life was extremely difficult. Her son had to live on charity milk and money she borrowed from everywhere.

With the belief that her husband was innocent, when the child was strong enough, she sent him to his grandmother, applied for a job at a graphic design company and began her journey to defend her husband. She went to the State Legal Assistance Center in Ho Chi Minh City for help and was introduced to lawyer Trinh Duc Duy to support the defense of the two brothers for free.

With the instructions, she went to work during the day and at night she took the time to compose a petition to appeal for her husband's innocence and sent it to the authorities with her sister-in-law, also named Tam (Mr. Dong's wife). Each time she sent nearly 20 letters to many agencies and organizations. For more than a year, the case has not had any sign of resolution.

"There were times when our family felt hopeless, but we still believed that one day the two brothers would be vindicated and receive justice," Mr. Dong's wife said sadly.

She said that on the night of the incident, Mr. Dong was at home taking care of his seriously ill child. After dinner with his grandmother, the child had a fever so he had to hold him to sleep. When her child had just fallen asleep, the police came to the house and asked to check his papers. Not knowing what had happened, he was asked to go to the ward to cooperate with the investigation, much to the shock of his wife and neighbors.

According to the case, on the evening of January 8, 2014, after finishing work, Mr. Than (a worker at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, District 7) was blocked by Lang and Tien and threatened with scissors to rob his motorbike. The victim threw his motorbike away and ran into the company headquarters to call for help. Because the motorbike was dead and could not be moved, Lang and Tien were arrested by the company security and the export processing zone security and handed over to the police.

Based on the testimony of Lang and Tien, District 7 Police arrested the Trang brothers. All four were then prosecuted for robbery with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Need a public apology

The case was brought to trial by the District 7 People's Court many times, and Trang and his brother repeatedly claimed innocence. They said that their confessions to the investigation agency were due to torture. Realizing that the evidence against Trang and his brother was insufficient and that many details did not match, the panel of judges returned the case for re-investigation.

At the third trial, Lang changed his testimony, admitting to falsely accusing the Trang brothers because he was still angry about the past. The panel of judges continued to return the investigation file because new details arose, and at the same time, there were many serious procedural violations during the investigation.

After more than two years in detention, the Trang brothers were released on bail but were forbidden to leave their place of residence. "The day I left the prison, I was so happy I couldn't describe it, I just wanted to run and hug my wife...", Trang turned to look at Tam, his eyes shining.

Since then, the brothers have gone back to work as construction workers to help their wives make ends meet and pay off their debts. Every week, they still have to report to the authorities.

On January 29, District 7 Police issued a decision to suspend the case and suspend the defendants for the Trang brothers because the investigation period had expired without proving that they had committed a crime.

Unable to hide his joy at being exonerated, Trang said he had not thought about demanding compensation for damages but really needed a public apology from the authorities to restore their honor in the eyes of colleagues and neighbors.