Heartbreaking children in court

Fell asleep in the hallway of the building

One morning in mid-March 2019, the weather in Nghe An was chilly. Amidst the bustling crowd in front of the provincial court, three children were playing innocently on the sidewalk. As soon as the covered truck passed by, the group of children hurriedly ran after it, calling their father's name in Lao.

The father of the three children, Va Nhia Ly (born in 1992, residing in Hua Phan province, Lao PDR), appeared in court for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Through an interpreter, the defendant’s wife said that in order to come to Vietnam to attend this court, the whole family had to take a bus the day before. Despite the long journey, the three children did not appear tired, but were excited to see their father. When they saw their father sitting in the courtroom while waiting for the court to start, the three children immediately called out to their father.

While waiting to see his father, Va Nhia Ly's son fell asleep soundly in the hallway. Photo: Tran Vu

However, due to court rules, these children were not allowed inside. Witnessing the images of children traveling a long journey to see their father after a long separation, the court security officers were flexible, creating conditions for the family to reunite.

During the short time father and son were able to meet, Nhia Ly could only hug her three children with red eyes. Seeing their father crying, the smiles on the children's faces suddenly disappeared, some even burst into tears. While the eldest daughter raised her dirty hands to fix her father's shirt, the second son touched Ly's face and stroked her hair. After father and son met for a while, the court went to work so the three children had to go out.

Since their mother and relatives were all sitting in the courtroom, the three children played carefreely in the hallway during the entire court session. After crawling and counting the stairs, they ran to the door, looking at where their father was standing. They signaled their father to turn around but he didn't, so the three children got bored and returned to their hobby of counting the stairs. After playing, one child lay down in the hallway and slept soundly, despite his face being covered in dirt.

The image of a child sleeping soundly in the courtroom moved onlookers. The child was too young to fully understand his father’s wrongdoings. The child also did not know that the highest sentence under the law was about to be handed down to his father for drug trafficking in a huge amount.

Inside the courtroom, defendant Va Nhia Ly was sentenced to death by the Nghe An Provincial People's Court for trafficking 10 heroin cakes weighing 3,497.01 grams and 963.30 grams of methamphetamine. Hearing the verdict, relatives burst into tears. The sobbing of the adults woke up the child sleeping in the hallway, burst into tears and ran after his mother and siblings to the waiting covered truck.

Skip school to go to court to see dad

Also at the provincial court, the writer met many other children. Each child had different circumstances but they all had a common childhood of lacking the love of their father or mother when they were in trouble with the law. And most of them had to travel a long distance to the court to see their father or mother to attend this trial. Many of them even skipped school, asking their teachers for permission to follow their relatives to Vinh city. Among those children, the image of a 7-year-old boy - the son of defendant Lu Van Thai (born in 1990, residing in Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district) appearing in court for drug-related crimes made many people feel sorry.

Images of children watching their father from afar during the trial of Thai and his accomplices. Photo: Tran Vu

Before his father was in trouble with the law, the child lived in the protection and love of his family. The child's tragedy began on June 5, 2019, when Thai invited Lo Van Ha (born in 1982, living in the same locality) to buy and sell drugs.Because they were both drug addicts, they quickly agreed and discussed a plan. Thai and Ha agreed that each would contribute 8 million VND to buy drugs for use and sell for profit.

Having made a plan, Ha rode his motorbike to Tri Le commune, Que Phong district first, to buy drugs. Ha bought 8 million VND worth of drugs and told the seller to "wait a moment" because there were still people who wanted to buy. The two waited for a while until Thai arrived. When they met, Thai gave them another 8 million VND to buy the "goods". After that, both received drugs from the seller. Before going home, both took out some drugs to use. The next day, both took the "goods" to Tan Lac town (Quy Chau district) to deliver to the customer, but the buyer could not contact them so they had to return. When passing through Khe Lan village, Chau Hanh commune, both were arrested by the police, with the evidence being 2 packages of drugs weighing 63.195 grams. Lu Van Thai and Lo Van Ha were brought to trial by the People's Court of Nghe An province for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics". For the above crime, each defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The trial that day was quick, but what caught the attention of the court attendees was the image of the defendant’s children standing around in the hallway of the courtroom. Among those children was Thai, a 7-year-old boy. To go to court to face his father, this boy had to ask his teacher for permission to stay home from school, despite his motion sickness.

Although he really wanted to see his father after a long time apart, due to court regulations, the child could not go inside. Outside in the hallway, he was alone with a few friends, occasionally looking inside where his father was standing. Suddenly seeing his child in the court made Lu Van Thai a bit confused. Thai seemed to want to tell his child something but stopped. Seeing his father in such a difficult situation made the child quickly turn outside, raising his dirty hand to wipe away his tears. The child's tears of resentment in the court made many people feel sorry and sympathetic.

Drifting to the car to return to the prison, Thai looked back to look for his children, his red eyes filled with remorse. The car carrying the prisoners drove away, the children cried loudly for their father, refusing to leave the court yard. The defendant's wife was helpless and cried bitterly after trying to comfort her children.

Each child present in court has a different fate, different circumstances, different places of birth and growth, but they all have one thing in common: they have fathers and mothers who made mistakes that made their childhoods full of deprivation and lack of color.