Prosecution of 5 forest rangers for destroying property of whistleblower of 'sand bandits'

Five security guards were prosecuted for throwing 40 bags of cement belonging to Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc into the shrimp pond, damaging all the cement.

The Investigation Police Agency of Nhon Trach District Police, Dong Nai Province has just completed the investigation conclusion, transferred the case file to the People's Procuracy of the same level to propose prosecuting 5 forest rangers (belonging to the Long Thanh Protective Forest Management Board) for the act of "Property destruction" at the shrimp farm of Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc in Ba Truong Hamlet, Phuoc An Commune.

Forest rangers broke into Mrs. Ngoc's shrimp hut and destroyed her property. Photo: Anh Ngoc.

Specifically, the 5 defendants proposed for prosecution include Le Van Lang (head of Rach Tram forest protection station), Truong Van Lon (deputy head of mangrove forest protection), Le Ngoc Tuan (Rach Goc forest protection officer), Pham Duc Tu (forest protection officer of Long Tho station), and Pham Van An (forest protection officer of Tac Hong station).

According to the investigation agency, Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc was authorized by someone else to manage the forest and aquaculture on Thi Vai River (Ba Truong Hamlet, Phuoc An Commune, Nhon Trach District) and had the consent of the Long Thanh Protective Forest Management Board.

After discovering that Ms. Ngoc had built a shrimp watchtower out of reinforced concrete of nearly 20 square meters, the forest rangers sent 11 members of the committee to prevent the illegal construction.

Specifically, at noon on February 26, the security force came to invite the construction workers to the commune to work, but was prevented by Mr. Nguyen Van Ni (Ms. Ngoc's father), so some security guards restrained and tied Mr. Ni so that the remaining security guards could work.

At the shrimp hut, a scuffle broke out between Ms. Ngoc and the security guards. The two sides struggled with each other. Afterwards, the five defendants threw 40 bags of cement belonging to Ms. Ngoc into the shrimp pond, damaging all the cement. Then, on February 27, the forest protection force dismantled four iron frames of construction columns and threw them into the shrimp pond.

According to the investigation agency, through the examination of the scene and the documents and evidence collected, there is sufficient basis to prove that the five defendants An, Tu, Lon, Lang, and Tuan had destroyed 40 bags of cement belonging to Ms. Anh Ngoc worth 3.4 million VND.

The act of removing 4 iron frames and throwing them into the shrimp pond by security guard Nguyen Minh Tuan and defendant Le Ngoc Tuan alone was worth less than 2 million VND. Therefore, Nhon Trach District Police issued a decision to administratively fine Tuan, and Tuan is currently a defendant in a case of property destruction (throwing cement), so it is considered an aggravating circumstance for his criminal responsibility.

Regarding Ms. Ngoc's accusation that forest ranger Tran Van Tron threw away her and Mr. Ni's phones, the investigation agency said that Ms. Ngoc has not been able to prove the characteristics and origin of the phones.

The search results found no evidence and the valuation results could not determine the value of the property, so there was not enough basis to prosecute Mr. Tron.

Regarding the actions of forest rangers Dam Van Dac, Pham Duc Tu, and Le Van Lang in tying up Mr. Nguyen Van Ni, the investigation agency has separated them to continue investigating and collecting documents for later processing.

According to the investigation agency, Ms. Ngoc arbitrarily built a solid shrimp watchtower on protective forest land, which was a violation, so she sent a document requesting the Commune People's Committee to handle it according to its authority.

Regarding this case, Dong Nai province authorities have been and are handling those responsible for wrongfully convicting Ms. Ngoc.

As Tuoi Tre reported, on April 19, Ms. Ngoc received an invitation to go to Phuoc An commune police station to work on the case of a forest ranger beating her.

However, at the commune, Ms. Ngoc was temporarily detained by Nhon Trach District Police to investigate the act of "resisting a person on official duty" that occurred from September 5, 2015.

At that time, based on information from Tuoi Tre, Dong Nai Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Cuong directed the authorities to investigate and determined that the temporary detention of Ms. Ngoc was wrong.

Then the People's Procuracy and Nhon Trach District Police released Ms. Ngoc and apologized to her after four days of her detention.

Currently, the disciplinary council of the People's Procuracy of Dong Nai province has announced the decision to discipline Mr. Nguyen Chi Ha (Deputy Chief of the People's Procuracy of Nhon Trach district) and Mr. Pham Hung Chinh (prosecutor) for approving the wrongful arrest of Ms. Ngoc.

Separately, Dong Nai Police also decided to temporarily suspend work with Lieutenant Colonel Truong Quoc Hieu (Deputy Chief of Nhon Trach District Police) and Major Nguyen Van Son (Investigator, Deputy Head of the General Investigation Team) pending handling according to industry regulations and legal provisions.

According to tuoitre