Mr. Huynh Van Nen demands 18 billion VND in compensation for wrongful conviction.

After nearly half a year of receiving a public apology, Mr. Nen sent a petition to the authorities requesting 18 billion VND in compensation for two wrongful murder convictions.

On April 10, Mr. Nguyen Than - the person authorized by Mr. Huynh Van Nen - said that after a long period of calculation, Mr. Nen's family had just submitted a petition to the State Compensation Department - Ministry of Justice, requesting compensation for the wrongful conviction in two verdicts for the murder of Ms. Duong Thi My (in 1999, also known as the "cashew garden case") and the murder of Ms. Le Thi Bong (in 2004 in Tan Minh commune), Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan.

Mr. Nen requested a total compensation of 18 billion VND for the following expenses: wrongful imprisonment, mental damage, costs of appeal... "To ensure the negotiation process with the authorities, the family cannot disclose the details of each requested item," Mr. Than said.

Mr. Nen said that tomorrow morning he will go to Binh Thuan Provincial People's Court to submit a request for compensation.

Mr. Huynh Van Nen on the day he was exonerated. Photo: Phuoc Tuan.

Mr. Nen is the only person in the history of Vietnamese litigation to be wrongly convicted of two murders. In April 1998, Mr. Nen was accused of using a piece of rope as a weapon to kill Ms. Le Thi Bong and steal her ring. More than two years later, the People's Court of Binh Thuan province tried the case at first instance and sentenced Mr. Nen to life in prison for murder, three years for robbery, and two years for intentional destruction of property. The total sentence is life in prison.

During the investigation of this case, Mr. Nén and 9 of his wife's relatives were accused of killing Mrs. Duong Thi My in the "cashew garden mystery" that happened 5 years ago. After 12 years, the investigation agency failed to charge the defendants or find the perpetrator, Mr. Nén's family was exonerated and compensated nearly one billion VND. Mr. Nén alone was not prosecuted because he was serving a life sentence for allegedly killing Mrs. Bong and robbing her gold ring.

After nearly 17 years in prison, at the end of 2015, Binh Thuan Provincial Police suspended the investigation into Mr. Nen after finding the killer of Ms. Bong. Not long after, he received a public apology from the Provincial People's Court in the locality.

As soon as he was cleared, he wrote a petition to the Supreme People's Procuracy requesting criminal proceedings against 14 officials in the police force, the People's Procuracy, and the People's Court of Binh Thuan province who wrongly accused him and nine members of his wife's family. Mr. Nen specified that the investigator, the head of the investigation agency signed the investigation conclusion, the prosecutor, the leader of the People's Procuracy signed the indictment, and the judge of the first instance trial.

On April 8, the investigation agency of the Supreme People’s Procuracy went to Tan Minh town, Ham Tan, Binh Thuan to work with Mr. Huynh Van Truyen (father of Huynh Van Nen) and 8 members of Mr. Nen’s wife’s family - those who were wrongly convicted in the “cashew garden case”. They also worked with Mr. Nguyen Phuc Thanh - who filed a petition in prison denouncing the murderer of Ms. Bong, not Mr. Nen.

Previously, the investigation agency also worked with Mr. Nen, but then he had a traffic accident due to falling off his motorbike and had to be treated so he could not return to work.

According to VNE