Villagers ask for reduced sentence for two young men who cut down 1,200 passion fruit trees

(Baonghean)- People of Pic Nieng village, Tri Le commune, Que Phong district (Nghe An) have just submitted a petition to the authorities to reduce the sentence for two young men in the village for their behavior.cut down more than 1,200 treesMr. Leo of Nafoods Company.

» Close-up of billion-dollar passion fruit garden destroyed overnight

» More than 1,200 passion fruit trees in the project area in Que Phong were cut down.

On October 5, 2017, the Investigation Police Agency of Que Phong District Police issued a decision to prosecute and arrest Mong Van Xanh (born in 1985) and Mong Van Nghe (born in 1994), both residing in Ban Pich Nieng, Tri Le Commune, Que Phong District, for the crime of "Property destruction and theft". Initially, the authorities determined that Xanh and Nghe were the culprits who cut down 1,223 passion fruit trees in the passion fruit garden of Nafoods Company.

The feelings of the local people

The representative of Pich Nieng village who drafted the petition was Village Chief Luong Van Hung. In the petition, the village chief explained that Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe had cut down the passion fruit trees of Nafoods Company, which originated from the village community's frustrations about land issues.

Hoang Thi Thu - wife of Mong Van Xanh talked with Nghe An Newspaper reporter. Photo: Dao Tuan.

Pich Nieng village, Tri Le commune is located along National Highway 16. According to Village Chief Luong Van Hung and Head of the Front Work Committee Mong Van Tuan, around 2004 to 2006, after Pich Nieng villagers were relocated to Minh Chau Resettlement Area (Tri Le commune), each household was assigned 2000m²In addition, the village community was assigned an additional land area of ​​about 5 hectares for production and as a residential land fund for future generations.

According to the people, in 2010, the village agreed to lend community land to two individuals in Tri Le commune for production for a period of 5 years. In 2013, after discussing with the villagers, the People's Committee of Que Phong district decided to temporarily lend the above land area to Nafoods Company to carry out the passion fruit project. After the company had been in operation for a while, in June 2014, the People's Committee of the district again informed the people that it would reclaim the land to hand over to the enterprise for production.

Since then, the village management board has made many requests but has not received a thorough response. In March 2017, Pich Nieng village submitted a petition to the provincial authority, and then received a response that the matter was assigned to the district for resolution. However, it was not until May 2017 that the district sent a decision to reclaim the land.

Due to the slow resolution of petitions, along with some concerns about the environment, internal traffic routes... related to Nafoods Company, some villagers, due to lack of legal knowledge, have cut down passion fruit trees...

“The villagers are facing many difficulties. The livelihood of more than 50 households is growing rice in the old village. There is no more land here. When the children of the village grow up, they really need land to separate households, so we hope that the superiors will consider it. For this reason, we request that the punishment for Xanh and Nghe be reduced...” - Village Chief Luong Van Hung suggested.

The house of Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe, in the middle of Pich Nieng village, was built on his parents' land. Here, Hoang Thi Thu (Mong Van Xanh's wife) sobbed and said that Xanh knew that cutting down trees was wrong and hoped that the law enforcement agencies would consider it. "I work as a worker for Samsung Electronics in Bac Ninh province. When I heard that Xanh was arrested, I had to return and have stayed there ever since to take care of my children and my sick mother-in-law..." - Hoang Thi Thu said.

A withered passion fruit tree due to being cut down. Photo: Dao Tuan.

Reasonable and sympathetic solution

The experimental passion fruit garden of Nafoods Company in Pich Nieng was carried out on the communal land of this village, with an area of ​​4.5 hectares. By the time Que Phong district announced the land reclamation, after about 8 years (2006 - 2014), the Pich Nieng community had not used the communal land for production. Regarding the shortcomings surrounding the land issue of Pich Nieng people, it is basically as informed by Village Chief Luong Van Hung. Through the currently archived records, the reclamation of Tri Le land in general, and Pich Nieng community land in June 2014 was necessary. Because difficult areas like Que Phong really need the passion fruit project of Nafoods Company to be implemented to promote economic development, creating jobs with stable income for the people. Besides, the basic land reclamation procedures were fully implemented according to regulations.

According to Mr. Le Van Giap - Chairman of Que Phong District People's Committee, the district has recently received a petition from the Pich Nieng people. And because the petition has some realistic contents that need to be carefully considered, Que Phong District People's Committee has invited relevant agencies, Nafoods Company, Tri Le Commune and representatives of Pich Nieng village to attend a meeting to clarify.

Here, the People's Committee of Que Phong district affirmed that the actions of Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe violated the law; acknowledged the petitions of Pich Nieng residents; and at the same time made suggestions to Nafoods Company.

Mr. Le Van Giap said: “Que Phong supports economic projects implemented in the locality. However, project implementing units need to gain consensus from local people. Particularly with the passion fruit project of Nafoods Company in Pich Nieng village, there are still issues that lead to Pich Nieng people not agreeing, and the reason is partly the responsibility of the company, the authorities of Que Phong district and Tri Le commune. Therefore, Que Phong determined that the handling of violators in the passion fruit cutting case, in addition to demonstrating the strictness of the law, must also achieve humanity...”.

Talking to the representative of Nafoods Company, Director Pham Duy Thai, about what he heard and saw in Pich Nieng, Mr. Thai expressed his wish that the matter be clarified, but consider reducing the penalties for the subjects, creating opportunities for them to soon reform.

Pich Nieng's relatives hope for a lighter sentence for Xanh and Nghe. Photo: Dao Tuan.

Director Pham Duy Thai said: “The experimental passion fruit project in Pich Nieng was carried out by the company on land reclaimed by authorities at all levels. This is an experimental garden with the participation of experts, a model for people to learn from and replicate to create a Que Phong passion fruit material area as approved by the province. As the project implementation unit, Nafoods always wants to create consensus and support from local people. Therefore, despite the economic loss from the destruction of more than 1,200 passion fruit trees, when receiving the petition from the two families Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe, the company aimed to request law enforcement agencies to consider and reduce the penalty to the lowest level...”.

Specifically, as Mr. Pham Duy Thai discussed, Nafoods Company will send a document to the legal agencies of Que Phong district to request a reduction in the sentence for both subjects; at the same time, if the trial of Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe is organized on a mobile basis, it will send a representative leader to participate, thereby giving direct opinions at the trial.

From the discussions between the authorities and representatives of Nafoods Company, it can be seen that the way to handle the law violations against the two subjects Mong Van Xanh and Mong Van Nghe has a unified viewpoint, which is to strictly follow the law but show tolerance, creating opportunities for those who make mistakes when they realize their violations. Thereby, it will fundamentally resolve the concerns of more than 52 Khmu households in Pich Nieng village.

Nhat Lan - Dao Tuan