Drug lord's tears when reunited with his children in court

The trial of Va Nhia Ly (born in 1992, residing in Sam To district, Hua Phan province, Lao PDR) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking" took place on a day in mid-March.

Defendant Va Nhia Ly. Photo: Nhu Binh

Va Nhia Ly's wife, Pa Tho, and her family were there early. Pa Tho was only 24 years old, but the hard-working appearance of a mother of three who only knew how to work hard in the fields was imprinted on every feature of her face. Perhaps this was the rare time that Tho's three young children (aged 3 to 7) wore sandals, so they were not used to them and did not dare to take them off. Their black feet wiggled in the new plastic sandals, looking so pitiful.

Seeing their father, the children rushed to hug him. Seeing their father's handcuffed hands, they were scared and burst into tears. Ly also cried with her. The reunion of the four father and children had to stop when the jury came to work. The three children were led by their grandmother to the hallway to play. All three of them rolled back and forth on the dirty hallway and shouted to each other to climb up and down the stairs. In no time, the clean clothes that their mother had prepared had turned the color of dirt, their faces were covered in dirt...

Ly was identified as an important link in the drug trafficking ring from Laos to Vietnam, but the accomplice quickly escaped, so in court only Ly stood before the bar. According to the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, through a person named Bac, and Nhia Ly and a person named Tam. Through Tam, Ly was asked by a person named Nam to buy 10 heroin cakes for 5,000 USD/cake and 1 kg of crystal meth.

Mother and children of defendant Ly. Photo: Nhu Binh

Having a buyer, Ly contacted a man named Ly No De to buy drugs. On September 5, 2018, De and Ly went to Vietnam and hid the drugs in a bush in the Bu Bai slope area, Chau Hanh commune, Quy Chau district (Nghe An).

At around 1:00 p.m. on September 6, 2018, a man named Nam went to Bu Bai slope to meet Ly and De to trade drugs. Nam and Va Nhia Ly sat in the car to count the money while De and the man with Nam went to the area where the drugs were hidden to get the goods. When De just brought the bag of drugs to the parked car, he was discovered by the police. Ly No De threw away the drugs and ran into the forest with the other man.

Knowing that he had been discovered, Va Nhia Ly kicked open the back door of the car to escape but was arrested by the police. A man named Nam took advantage of the chaos and fled the scene. The police seized 10 heroin cakes weighing nearly 3.5 kg and nearly 1 kg of crystal meth.

During the investigation, Va Nhia Ly admitted his crime. However, at the trial, defendant Ly denied his crime. Ly said he did not know who the people mentioned in the indictment were and said that he and Ly No De went to Vietnam to get 1.4 billion VND. However, the defendant could not explain what the money was or where it came from.

Although the defendant did not admit guilt, based on the record of the arrest, the defendant's self-confession, and the defendant's recorded and videotaped statements during the investigation, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, who held the right to prosecute at the trial, affirmed that there was sufficient evidence to prove that Va Nhia Ly committed the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

By the time the court deliberated, two-thirds of Va Nhia Ly's children were fast asleep. The older brother was lying on the hallway floor, sleeping, while the youngest was nodding off in his grandmother's arms. The grandmother quickly woke up the children and signaled them to run to their father. The children, still sleepy and dirty-faced, furtively looked at the policemen, not daring to enter.

Ly's wife hurriedly wiped her child's face and then boldly pushed the child through the door separating the trial area and the audience area. Only the two older children dared to run in with their father. The younger child was scared and cried loudly, forcing Pa Tho to carry him out. This time, only Va Nhia Ly cried. The two young children did not understand what was happening, and continued to laugh and joke innocently as if in a moment, their father would be released and return to them.

Defendant Ly's children innocently played in the hallway of the courtroom. Photo: Nhu Binh

Considering that the amount of drugs that Va Nhia Ly trafficked was especially large and the crime was especially serious, the People's Court sentenced the defendant Ly to death.

According to the disclosure of the representative of the Provincial People's Procuracy holding the right to prosecute at the trial, Va Nhia Ly will soon have to appear in court again due to his involvement in the illegal drug trafficking ring of 27kg of drugs from Laos to Vietnam that the Drug Crime Prevention Police Department, Ministry of Public Security, dismantled at the end of 2018.

And Nhia Ly was led to the car to return to the prison. Pa Tho hurriedly followed, trying to look at her husband one more time. The three children trotted after her to the court gate. Outside, the red and blue balloons and the cars rushing by seemed to attract them more...