Taking the blame for your friend's freedom didn't work out.

The People's Court of Binh Thanh District (HCMC) has just held a first-instance trial of the case of Nguyen Minh Tuan (born in 1999) and Dang Ngoc Tung (born in 1988), who were prosecuted by the People's Procuracy of this district for robbery with the aggravating circumstance of "using dangerous tricks" according to Point d, Clause 2, Article 136 of the Penal Code.

According to the records, in the early morning of June 21, 2016, while driving a motorbike carrying Tung on Dinh Bo Linh Street (Binh Thanh District), Tuan saw Ms. T. walking on the sidewalk while using her cell phone, so he pointed at her and told Tung to snatch her cell phone. Then, Tuan drove his motorbike close to Ms. T. so that Tung could snatch her cell phone and then accelerate to escape.

When he got home, Tuan removed the SIM card from Ms. T.'s phone and put it in his own phone to use the money in Ms. T.'s SIM card to play games, but he received a text message: "Hey, if you see this message, please let me redeem my phone." Then Tuan and Tung took Ms. T.'s phone to sell for 2.8 million VND (the appraisal council determined that this phone was worth 3 million VND). On the way, Tuan threw away Ms. T.'s SIM card.

The two defendants Tuan (standing) and Tung at the trial. Photo: YC

At noon that same day, Tuan and Tung were driving on Dinh Bo Linh Street when they were checked by criminal investigators from Binh Thanh District Police. Checking Tuan's cell phone, the police discovered a message with the above content, so they confiscated the cell phone and arrested Tuan and Tung. Tuan and Tung were then prosecuted for robbery.

In December 2016, the People's Court of Binh Thanh District opened the first trial but returned the case file for further investigation because in court Tuan confessed to the robbery with a person named Kim, not with Tung, and Tung did not admit to the crime. The two defendants also said that the investigators forced them to confess and tortured them, so they confessed during the investigation.

At this first instance trial, Tuan and Tung admitted to the robbery and said they had given false testimony at the trial in December 2016 because Tuan asked Tung to let Tuan plead guilty alone so that Tung could be free to take care of his two children (one is one year old and the other is four years old).

At the trial, the representative of the People's Procuracy proposed that the panel of judges sentence Tuan from two years to two years and six months in prison, and Tung from three to four years in prison. In the debate, Tuan's (minor) appointed lawyer asked the panel of judges to consider that the fact that the People's Procuracy relied only on a phone message and the testimony of the two defendants to convict Tuan of robbery was not appropriate. At the same time, the lawyer said that the penalty proposed by the People's Procuracy representative for Tuan, although lower than the lowest level of the penalty range, was still severe and did not demonstrate the leniency of the law because at the time of the crime, Tuan was just over 16 years old and had a difficult family situation, his parents were separated...

In response, the representative of the People's Procuracy said that the conviction was not only based on the phone messages and statements of the two defendants, but also on the statements of witnesses, identification records, informer, and seized evidence. The representative of the People's Procuracy also said that the proposed penalty was appropriate, below the lowest level of the penalty range, demonstrating the humanity of the law.

In his final statement, Tuan asked the panel of judges to consider reducing his sentence so that he could return home soon to take care of his wife and children. Tung also expressed his remorse and asked the panel of judges to reduce his sentence. The panel of judges agreed with the view of the representative of the People's Procuracy, did not accept the view of the lawyer, and sentenced Tuan to two years and six months in prison, and Tung to three years and six months in prison./.

According to PLO