9-year prison sentence upheld for karaoke bar owner in fire that killed 13 people
The Court of Appeal decided not to accept the appeal, upholding the first instance judgment in the karaoke bar fire case at 68 Tran Thai Tong, Hanoi.
On September 12, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened an appeal hearing to consider the petition for a reduced sentence of Nguyen Dieu Linh (owner of karaoke bar 68 Tran Thai Tong), Hoang Van Tuan and Le Thi Thi for the crime ofViolation of fire prevention and fighting regulations.The victims also appealed to increase the punishment for Linh, clarifying whether or not criminals were let off the hook.
More than 5 months ago, Linh was sentenced to 9 years in prison by the Hanoi People's Court, Tuan and Thi each received 7 years.
According to the first instance verdict, Linh is the owner of the karaoke bar at 68 Tran Thai Tong. This establishment is not allowed to operate because its fire prevention and fighting system has not been inspected. From October 26 to November 1, 2016, Linh continued to welcome guests while the bar was being repaired and completed.
On November 1, 2016, while using a welder to blow fire into a hinge to cut, Tuan caused the welding scales to splash onto flammable materials, causing a fire. After 7 hours, the fire department was able to extinguish the fire. The fire killed 13 people.
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Defendants Tuan, Thi and Linh (from left to right) at the appeal hearing. |
Open business early because want to recover capital quickly
At the appeal court, Linh asked for a lighter sentence because she was raising a young child and the consequences of the fire were not what the defendant wanted. The defendant said that because he wanted to recover his capital quickly, he knew that the karaoke business had not been granted a license and was repairing and completing the fire prevention and fighting system, but still allowed management to receive guests.
Linh said she assigned Hoang Van Thien to repair the shop without checking because she believed he had a lot of experience. "The defendant is raising a small child so she asked someone else to do it," Linh said.
"If someone else had been assigned to supervise the project, Linh would not have to appear in court but would have been the victim. This also shows that the decision not to prosecute other related people is well-founded," the presiding judge stated.
To consider the basis for a reduced sentence, the judge asked Linh if she had anything else besides the 120 million VND in partial compensation to show remorse. Linh said she wanted to, but had to sell her entire house to pay off the bank debt, so now she had nothing left.
At the first instance trial, the High People's Procuracy in Hanoi said that the first instance court had considered the mitigating circumstances and repentance, so there was no basis to accept the defendants' request for leniency.
The Court of Appeal decided not to accept the appeal, upholding the decisions of the first instance judgment.