Heroin smuggler asks for reduced death sentence for 'saving drowning man'
(Baonghean.vn) - During a medical examination, Truong accidentally met a Laotian man. In debt, Truong fell into drug trafficking when the foreign man invited him.
On December 22, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Le Van Truong (born in 1972, residing in Hung Long commune, Hung Nguyen district) for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics". Previously, in early February, Truong was sentenced by the court toSentencedeath sentence. After that, Truong appealed for a chance to live.
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| Defendant Le Van Truong. Photo: Tran Vu |
According to the indictment, in early August 2019, Truong went to a hospital in Vinh City for a medical examination and met a young man of Lao nationality (unknown background and address) who was also going to see a doctor.
Through conversation, Truong knew that this person had a source of drugs to sell, so he asked to buy them. About a week later, Truong called the Laotian to buy 2 heroin cakes and 1 kg of crystal meth for a total of 300 million VND. According to the appointment, on the evening of August 29, 2019, Truong went to the Thong Thu intersection (Que Phong district) to make the transaction.buy drugs. When he arrived at Hoa Nam hamlet, Nghi Hoa commune (Nghi Loc district), Truong was checked by Nghe An provincial police and drugs were discovered in the trunk of his motorbike. The seized evidence was more than 1.6 kg of drugs.
At the first instance court, the defendant admitted that he had bought and sold drugs because of debt and regretted that his meeting with the Laotian man at the hospital had indirectly pushed him into prison. The first instance court sentenced defendant Le Van Truong to death for illegal drug trafficking.
The defendant then filed an appeal for a reduced sentence. At the appeal court, the defendant stated that he had helped Nghe An Mobile Police capture criminals; saved a drowning woman and was recognized by the local government; and also adopted a heroic Vietnamese mother. The defendant asked the court to consider giving him a chance to live.
Considering that the amount of drugs that the defendant was involved in trafficking was exceptionally large, the appellate court rejected the defendant’s appeal. Upholding the first instance judgment, Le Van Truong was sentenced to death for the crime of Illegal drug trafficking.
