Investigation underway into the case of rice fields in Nghe An province being riddled with iron spikes by vandals.

One person says they lent it, the other says they bought it.

On September 7th, Mr. Dang Huu Hanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong district), stated that the police are still investigating the incident involving numerous iron spikes planted in the fields of local residents. "Immediately after receiving the report, the district People's Committee leadership assigned the district police to investigate. Currently, the investigation is still ongoing, and there are no results yet," Mr. Hanh said.

Meanwhile, for months now, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Sy (75 years old, Hanh Lam commune) has been unable to cultivate his rice field after a long struggle to reclaim it. The Thanh Chuong District People's Court ruled that the field belonged to Mr. Sy, but when his family came to reclaim it, they were shocked to discover it was full of sharp spikes planted in the field.

According to Mr. Sy, in 1994, his family was granted four plots of double-cropping rice paddy land in Van Dinh field by the State, with a total area of ​​nearly 1,700 square meters.²He was granted a land use certificate in 1997. In 2001, Mr. Sy moved his family to the mountainous area of ​​Hanh Lam commune to start a new life. Therefore, he lent two plots of land to his neighbors: Mr. Le Dinh Khang and Ms. Mai Thi Luong, for farming. For each plot borrowed, they paid Mr. Sy 30,000 dong, with a loan term of 10 years. The loan was only a verbal agreement, without any written documentation. Later, even after the 10-year term expired, Mr. Sy's family did not reclaim the land because they did not need it at the time.

During the period 2012-2014, in accordance with the State's policy on land reallocation, Mr. Sy's four plots of land were reallocated into one plot in a different location, also with an area of ​​nearly 1,700 square meters.²The land was granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights by the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee in 2017, with a term of 50 years, for the purpose of cultivating wet rice. Subsequently, due to his need to use the land for rice cultivation, Mr. Sy directly met with Mr. Le Dinh Khang and Ms. Mai Thi Luong's family to request the return of the land.

"After being granted by the districtLand use right certificate"My family is large, and I also have to take care of my disabled younger sister, so we really need land to cultivate. I met with the two people I lent the land to to ask for it back, but they adamantly refused to return it," Mr. Sy said.

Mr. Sy then had to file a petition with the local authorities. The People's Committee of Hanh Lam commune organized many mediation sessions, but without success. After years of unsuccessful attempts to reclaim his land, Mr. Sy was forced to file a lawsuit with the People's Court of Thanh Chuong district.

Meanwhile, presenting his case at the Thanh Chuong District People's Court, Mr. Le Dinh Khang stated that in 2001, he and his wife bought two sao (approximately 2,000 square meters) of rice paddy land from Mr. Sy for 600,000 dong. “Mr. Sy said he was selling the land to pursue new economic opportunities. The transaction was only between me and Mr. Sy; no one else witnessed it,” Mr. Khang said, adding that when the land exchange took place, he requested the local authorities to issue a land title deed in his and his wife's names, but it was not accepted.

Similarly to Mr. Khang, Ms. Mai Thi Luong stated that her husband bought the rice field from Mr. Sy for 6.5 million dong. However, there were no documents to prove ownership at the time of purchase.

Meanwhile, according to the judgment of the Thanh Chuong District People's Court, the verification process and the opinions of the plaintiffs and defendants at the trial showed that Mr. and Mrs. Sy had never transferred or gifted this plot of land to anyone. Furthermore, the defendants failed to provide any evidence of having purchased the land, and they themselves admitted that the transaction was only verbal, without any written documents or evidence. Therefore, the court ordered the Khang and Luong families to return the nearly 1,700 square meter plot of land.²for Mr. Sy's family.

The field is full of iron spikes.

The judgment of the Thanh Chuong District People's Court took effect on July 6, 2022. However, the two families who borrowed the land refused to return it, forcing Mr. Sy to repeatedly write complaints requesting the local authorities to resolve the issue.

On December 30, 2022, the Thanh Chuong District Civil Enforcement Agency, along with representatives from various departments and the Hanh Lam Commune People's Committee, formed a team to forcibly return the land use rights to Mr. Sy. However, a representative of Mr. Khang's family was present at the enforcement but refused to sign the minutes. Meanwhile, Ms. Luong's family agreed to return over 522 square meters of land to Mr. Sy's family.² land.

According to Mr. Sy, after the enforcement officers read the order to forcibly return the land, his family went down to the field and discovered dozens of iron spikes embedded in the soil. Following this, Mr. Sy submitted a request to the authorities to clarify who planted the iron spikes in the field, preventing his family from growing rice. "This land is fertile and productive; my family wanted to cultivate it, but we've had to leave it fallow for the past two seasons because we haven't found the person responsible," Mr. Sy said angrily.

Mr. Le Dinh Gam, head of Hamlet 6, Hanh Lam Commune, Thanh Chuong District, said that while the police investigation into the case was still ongoing, Mr. Sy's family had to leave their rice field fallow for the past two seasons. "The villagers are very upset that the perpetrator hasn't been found yet, because this fertile rice field should have been cultivated to ensure the planting season, not left fallow with weeds growing so well," Mr. Gam said.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Hanh Lam commune stated that the land dispute between Mr. Sy's family and two other households had been ongoing for many years. The local authorities had repeatedly invited the families to mediation, but without success. Currently, the case has been handled and adjudicated by the District People's Court, resulting in the land being returned to Mr. Sy. Around February 2023, after Mr. Nguyen Nhu Sy's family reported to the local authorities that they suspected someone had planted spikes in their field, the police visited the site, used metal detectors, and recovered 7-8 iron stakes that had been buried in the field.