Sad story behind the death sentence of 3 young men in their early 20s

The prayers

The court in Nghe An tried 4 defendants from Dien Bien province including: Ly A Po (born 2000), Vu A Thang (born 2001), Giang A Minh (born 1999) and Mua A Vu (born 1988) for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs" with the highest penalty being prosecuted asdeath penaltybut not a single relative came to attend. The defendants said that partly because of the distance and partly because they had lost their parents, no one from Dien Bien came to Nghe An. The sadness of not being able to see their relatives on the day of the trial was evident on the defendants' faces.

During the interrogation in court, the defendants all admitted to committing the crimes as charged in the indictment. The defendants stated that because they were poor, they took the risk when they were promised hundreds of millions of dong in wages. The four defendants stated that they had not benefited from this business deal.

Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

As the ringleader in the case, Ly A Po presented to the court the motive for the crime due to circumstances and lack of education from relatives. According to Po, the defendant lost his father at an early age and later had 4 younger siblings, so he did not have a proper education. Getting married early put even more economic pressure on him, while farming had an unstable income. Therefore, when he was invited to participate in drug trafficking, the defendant blindly nodded in agreement.

“Since childhood, the defendant lacked the care and education of his father, so his legal awareness is limited. The defendant is currently raising four younger siblings, and his children are still young, so he asks the Trial Panel to consider reducing his sentence and giving him a way to live,” Po stated in his final statement.

In the same situation, defendant Vu, with a trembling voice, stated before the court: “Both of my parents died early, so I was not educated or disciplined. Also because of the circumstances, I dropped out of school early, so I don’t have a stable job. Due to difficulties, I accidentally participated in drug trafficking. I feel very remorseful, and I ask the court to consider reducing my sentence so that I have a chance to live, to return to take care of and raise my four young children.”

According to Vu, since his arrest, due to geographical distance, his wife and children have not had the opportunity to visit him.

Facing the death penalty, defendant Thang also gave many reasons for his crime. According to Thang, because his family had many siblings with 9 children, life was difficult. The fact that his father was also involved in drugs, was arrested and is currently in prison has greatly affected the defendant's psychology. "My father is also in prison, I ask the court to consider giving me a way to live," Thang said while wiping his face with his hand.

The shipment has a "freight" of more than 800 million VND

Previously, during the trial, the defendants confessed honestly in hopes of receiving leniency from the law and finding a chance to live. Defendant Po stated that on December 3, 2020, he received a phone call from a Laotian man who hired him to transport 80 heroin cakes and 50 kg of crystal meth from Hanoi to Nghe An. This person said that the fee was 500 million VND and asked Po to find someone who knew how to drive to transport the "goods".

Po agreed and invited Giang A Minh and Vu A Thang to join. At first Thang did not agree, however, when he learned that the Lao people would pay an additional 300 million VND, all three agreed and took a bus to Hanoi to rent a motel, waiting for the "order" to leave.

At the same time, Mua A Vu was hired by a man named Pao to transport drugs to Nghe An. With the promise of receiving 50 million VND in wages, Vu agreed.

Defendant Ly A Po asked to live to start a new life. Photo: Tran Vu

On December 5, after receiving the car and the travel expenses, the three subjects including Po, Minh, and Thang went straight to Nghe An. Two days later, at a motel in Muong Xen town, Ky Son district, the subjects met Vu. At this time, the subjects learned that they would receive drugs from Nghe An to Hanoi. At dawn on December 8, 2020, after receiving the location via a phone application, Thang drove the car carrying the subjects to Noong De village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district (about 6 km from Nam Can border gate) and met a group of people carrying sacks of drugs from the forest. After putting the sacks on the car, Thang turned the car around to go to the North. However, the car carrying the "huge" amount of drugs was arrested by Nghe An police. The seized evidence was 8 white snake skin bags containing 150 cakes of white powder (more than 64 kg) suspected of being drugs, and 126 packages of white crystalline substance (more than 175 kg) suspected of being drugs.

The forensic results of the Criminal Techniques Department, Nghe An Police concluded: 10 cakes (weighing more than 3.5 kg) seized from the subjects were drugs. The remaining samples did not contain any drug components. Therefore, the investigation agency determined that Ly A Po, Mua A Vu, Giang A Minh, and Vu A Thang must bear criminal responsibility for transporting more than 3.5 kg of drugs.

The jury determined that drugs are a major threat to the whole society, causing harm to health, degrading the race, human dignity, destroying family happiness, seriously affecting social order, safety and national security, so they need to be dealt with severely. In this case, the defendants participated in transporting a large amount of drugs, so the court sentenced the three defendants Ly A Po, Giang A Minh, and Vu A Thang to death; and sentenced defendant Mua A Vu to life in prison.

Although the defendants gave many reasons to justify their crimes, the law is strict so those involved in drugs must pay the price for their greed.