Tears of a sinful father who wishes to live to donate a kidney to save his child

(Baonghean.vn) - With 208 heroin cakes successfully bought and sold, Tran Van Tu and his accomplices destroyed many homes, pushed many families into brokenness, and left many children helpless and homeless when their parents became drug addicts. However, when facing death, Tu earnestly begged to live, not to repay his debt to life, but to do something meaningful for his only daughter, which was to donate a kidney to save her.

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Authorities determined that from October 2012 to December 28, 2012, Tran Van Tu (born in 1982), residing in Khanh Son commune, Nam Dan district, together with drug lord Nguyen Trong Tuan (born in 1971) and his accomplices, participated in buying and selling 208 heroin cakes (weighing 72,864 grams) and 321 synthetic drug pills (weighing 30 grams) from Laos to Vietnam and then selling them to China and other countries. This huge drug ring was brought to trial in August 2013. Drug lord Nguyen Trong Tuan was sentenced to death. Tu was sentenced to life in prison.

After 4 years, when his accomplices had “settled down” with their sentences, Tran Van Tu entered the trial, facing the matter of life and death. Perhaps, at this time, Tu understood more than ever the value of life, especially when he thought that life still had much hope when he received a life sentence.

Tran Van Tu at court

Saying “okay” is because the boss Nguyen Trong Tuan must receive the death sentence, while the amount of drugs that Tu and the boss were responsible for were equal. Having escaped the death sentence, Tu was not foolish enough to appeal. Without an appeal for a lighter sentence, Tran Van Tu was transferred to prison to serve his sentence.

With a life sentence, the opportunity to live was clearly before his eyes, but Tu not only wanted to live but also yearned for freedom. In prison, Tu did everything to shorten his path back. During the 4 years of serving his sentence, thanks to his positive attitude in labor and reform, Tu was classified as a good reformer and elected to self-govern. He also actively denounced criminals in order to make meritorious contributions to atone for his crimes. If the 2 subjects Tu denounced had not fled the area, who knows if Tu's life sentence would have changed?

That was his plan. But life is fair, if you commit a crime, you have to pay, and the price you pay will also be proportional to the crime you committed. In 2015, that is, after 2 years of hard work in reform, Tran Van Tu received a decision that his sentence had been annulled according to the appeal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, requesting a retrial with a heavier sentence. That is, the life sentence he was serving would be annulled to serve a retrial. At that time, the sentence that the law gave him might not be life, but could be heavier?

After many postponements, on the morning of February 20, 2017, the first instance criminal trial according to the Supreme People's Court's appeal for review against defendant Tran Van Tu was opened. He did not argue about the crime or the amount of drugs he participated in buying and selling. He only asked the panel of judges to consider his contributions in helping the investigation agency completely dismantle the drug ring of the drug lord Tuan, or to denounce the crime when he was serving his sentence at Dong Son Prison; to consider his tireless efforts and efforts to improve himself in the past time, and especially, to consider the feelings of a father towards his little daughter.

Defendant Tran Van Tu and his wife (blue shirt), mother (red shirt).

“The defendant has only one daughter, but since birth, the defendant’s daughter has only one kidney, which greatly affects her health and normal functioning. The defendant is aware of his criminal behavior, but hopes that the jury will give him a way to live so that he can have the opportunity to donate a kidney to his child,” defendant Tran Van Tu burst into tears. In the row of seats, Tu’s mother and wife sat huddled together, crying loudly.

On the day of the trial, Tu's daughter did not attend court. Perhaps Tu's family did not want her daughter to suffer psychological trauma when seeing her father standing with his head bowed in front of the bar waiting for the law to decide his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that Tran Van Tu's crime was particularly serious. Although the defendant had many mitigating circumstances, he committed the crime multiple times with a large quantity of drugs and played an active supporting role in the illegal drug trafficking ring. It was necessary to remove the defendant from society to ensure the strictness of the law and to serve as a deterrent to others.

Carrying the death sentence, Tu's path back home seemed to have closed. His shoulders slumped, and he walked away. I imagined the scene of Tu's skinny daughter, who would have to face many health risks when her body lacked a kidney. If only Tran Van Tu had thought of that scene before he got his hands dirty, because when he no longer had the chance to start over, it would be too late to regret and love his daughter!

Nhu Binh