Appeal of the white pheasant case: The Procuracy proposed to exempt the defendant from criminal liability from Nghe An

On the morning of October 17, the People's Court of Hung Yen province held an appeal trial of the criminal case against defendant Thai Khac Thanh (45 years old, residing in Thinh Tam hamlet, Do Luong commune, Nghe An province) for violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals.

Many police forces were deployed to control the area around the court gate. Some people were also present to watch the trial.

Defendant Thai Khac Thanh and his relatives arrived early to attend the trial. Thanh appeared with a rather tense and worried expression.

The trial was opened due to the appeal of defendant Thai Khac Thanh and the entire protest against the first instance judgment of the Chief Prosecutor of Hung Yen Provincial People's Procuracy.

There are 5 lawyers participating in defending defendant Thai Khac Thanh.

At the trial, defendant Thai Khac Thanh and his defense lawyer said they would maintain the appeal content, requesting consideration of amending the first instance judgment and exempting the defendant from criminal liability.

The representative of the People's Procuracy of Hung Yen province also said that after the appraisal, the content of the appeal was changed. At the same time, the People's Court of Hung Yen province was requested to amend the verdict and exempt the defendant Thai Khac Thanh from criminal liability.

The judge asked defendant Thanh about the details from when he bought the white pheasant to raise until he sold it.

Defendant Thanh affirmed that his actions of buying and selling white pheasants and being prosecuted were in accordance with the law.

According to the case file, in 2022, Thai Khac Thanh learned information on social networks and learned that white pheasants are an endangered, rare animal that needs to be preserved, banned from being kept in captivity, bought and sold, and have high value on the market. From there, Thanh came up with the idea of ​​breeding this species to sell for spending money. In 2024, Thanh bought a male pheasant from a stranger in Can Tho through social networks for 4.5 million VND.

Then, through social networks, Thai Khac Thanh contacted and exchanged with a stranger in Dien Chau district (old), Nghe An province, to exchange the red-whiskered bulbul he was raising for two female pheasants. Thanh brought these chickens to raise with the male pheasant he had previously purchased. During the raising process, the defendant did not register with the competent authority as prescribed.

After a period of raising, the two female pheasants laid 13 eggs, of which 10 eggs hatched into chicks, the remaining 3 eggs were spoiled. In March 2025, because he wanted to sell the chicks for money, Thai Khac Thanh used his personal Facebook account to post pictures of the pheasants. After that, a strange account texted him to ask to buy 10 chicks. The two parties agreed on a selling price of 500,000 VND/chicken, the total transaction amount was 5 million VND.

However, during the transportation, at around 7:00 a.m. on April 2, the car carrying 10 chicks when moving to the area of ​​​​DH07 road, in Quy Son village, Song An commune, Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province (old) was checked by the provincial police force and all the chickens were confiscated.

Continuing to search Thanh's residence, the Police Investigation Agency seized 3 more white pheasants.

On the afternoon of August 8, the People's Court of Region 5 - Hung Yen sentenced defendant Thanh to 6 years in prison and an additional fine of 30 million VND for violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious, and rare animals.

After the trial ended, the verdict received great public attention with many opinions.

On August 13, the Chief Prosecutor of Hung Yen Province appealed the entire first instance judgment, requesting that the judgment be overturned for reinvestigation. On the same day, Chief Justice of Hung Yen Province People's Court Do Manh Tang decided to change the preventive measure, allowing defendant Thanh to be released on bail.

It is known that the white pheasant used to belong to group IB - an animal species prohibited from exploitation and use for commercial purposes, but has been moved to group IIB - a species with restricted exploitation - according to Circular 27 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, effective from July 1.