Young man who led the Tan Son Nhat terrorist attack gets 16 years in prison

Thien pleaded guilty and did not ask for a reduced sentence, but said he did not intend to cause any human casualties, so he used petrol bombs to terrorize the airport.

On the afternoon of December 27, after two days of trial, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Dang Hoang Thien (24 years old) to 16 years in prison and Nguyen Duc Sinh (32 years old, from Quang Ngai) to 10 years in prison for the crime ofTerrorism against the people's government. The remaining 13 accomplices received 5-14 years in prison for the same crime. After serving their main sentence, each defendant was placed under local house arrest for 3-5 years.

Charged with Failure to Report a Crime, Le Thi Thu Phuong (Thien's girlfriend) received a one-year and six-month suspended sentence.

Before that, when giving his final statement, Thien admitted that his actions were wrong but said he did not intend to cause any harm to people: "The petrol bomb only caused a fire, not an explosion. If I wanted to affect someone, it was within my reach, but I did not do it. I committed the crime, so I admitted it, I did not ask for leniency," Thien said.

With a sincere look, defendant Sinh apologized to the Party, the State and all the people for his actions. "I hope there will be training and education classes for the young generation so that no one will be lured by evil forces like me. Because of them, my family was destroyed. I am the main breadwinner in the family, I hope the jury will reduce my sentence," he said.

As the person who asked Truong Tan Phat to transport the petrol bomb to the airport and personally detonate it, Ngo Thuy Tuong Vy apologized to Phat. "Although we are long-time friends, I dragged Phat into crime. The defendant also apologizes to Thien because the defendant is older but did not advise him," Vy said in her final words.

Thai Han Phong, Nguyen Thi Chung, Vu Mong Phong, and Hoang Van Duong affirmed that they did not commit the crimes as accused. The remaining defendants admitted that their actions were wrong and asked for leniency due to their family circumstances...

Thien was the leader of the terrorist attack at Tan Son Nhat airport and the destruction of a parking lot in Dong Nai. Photo: Hai Duyen.

According to the panel of judges, some defendants gave different statements, but overall these statements were consistent with the evidence collected by the investigation agency.

Some others claimed innocence, but the content of phone calls and online conversations (extracted by the investigation agency) showed that they exchanged content criticizing and defaming the government.

Vu Mong Phong claimed not to have participated, but the investigation determined that Thien, Sinh and his accomplices had gathered at his house many times, instructing them to buy gasoline. Duong also drove his accomplices to buy raw materials many times, so he could not have been unaware of the terrorist plan.

"The defendants did not participate in the reactionary organization founded by Pham Lisa but accepted the will of their accomplices and let the consequences happen," the court analyzed Phong and Duong's criminal behavior.

Thai Hoang Phong did not admit to the crime, but witness statements showed that after destroying the Bien Hoa Police's warehouse of illegal vehicles, the defendant went to drink coffee with his accomplices and bragged about his achievements.

Similarly, Chung affirmed that he was not involved with the reactionary group, but based on the statements of Thien and Phuong and the content of Chung's conversations with Thien, there was sufficient evidence to determine that the defendant had provided money to Thien three times under the direction of Pham Lisa.

From that, the panel of judges concluded that the Supreme People's Procuracy's prosecution of the defendants was completely justified. "The defendants' actions caused particularly serious and unforeseeable consequences. The fact that no human damage occurred was due to the timely prevention of the authorities and was beyond the defendants' will, so they must be dealt with severely," the court concluded.

However, the panel also applied favorable provisions under the new 2015 Penal Code and applied many mitigating circumstances for the defendants.

According to VNE