'Hit the debtor with his own petard' in the case of forcing the debtor to pay

Nghe An Provincial People's Court has just opened a first-instance criminal trial against Nguyen Van Quy (born in 1993); Vo Manh Cuong (born in 1996), both residing in Xuan An town, Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh province); Tran Dang Tuan (born in 1986), residing in Tuong Son commune, Anh Son district (Nghe An province); Le Tran Thang (born in 1994), residing in Thai Hoa town (Nghe An province) for the crimes of "Illegal arrest" and "Extortion of property".

According to the investigation agency's documents, at around 10:00 a.m. on October 15, 2018, Nguyen Van Quy invited Tran Dang Tuan and Vo Manh Cuong to meet Ms. Le Thi Kim L. (born in 1973), residing in Vinh City, to ask her to pay more than 527 million VND. According to Quy, that was the amount of money that Ms. L. owed from previous gambling, along with the amount of 8.5 million VND that Ms. L. borrowed.

At Ms. L's house, Quy asked her to pay the debt but she refused. Quy and Tuan used their hands to hit Ms. L's face and body. At the same time, Quy told Cuong to call a taxi to take Ms. L. to the location he rented as an office. When the taxi arrived, Ms. L. refused to get in, so Quy and Tuan grabbed her hair and dragged her into the car. When they arrived, Ms. L. refused to get out, Quy continued to beat and drag her down.

Defendant Nguyen Van Quy. Photo: Tran Vu

At the office, Quy asked Ms. L. to pay the money, but the woman refused. Then, Quy used the handle of a knife to hit Ms. L.'s thighs and knees. At the same time, he forced Ms. L. to write an IOU for more than 535 million VND; write an IOU for Cuong for 70 million VND, and point to the two IOUs.

Quy was the one who dictated the loan documents to Ms. L. and Tuan was the one who guided Ms. L. to borrow money according to the company's loan contract form. Thang used his phone to record Ms. L. writing the loan documents.

At 12:30 p.m. the same day, before leaving, Quy asked Tuan and Thang to stay in the office to prevent Ms. L. from escaping. At 2:30 p.m., Ms. L. lied to Thang and Tuan that they needed to go to the insurance office to get confirmation of a loan to pay Quy.

When she arrived, Ms. L. pretended to go to the bathroom and called the police. While she was stalling for time to wait for the police to arrive, she was chased out by the security guard. Ms. L. ran away and called for help but was caught by Thang and Tuan. Thang and Tuan punched the woman in the face and took her to the company office.

At 3:30 p.m., Vinh City Police arrived at the company office and discovered and caught Thang, Quy and Tuan red-handed in the act of illegally detaining someone. Cuong then turned himself in to the police.

Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

In addition, Nguyen Van Quy and Vo Manh Cuong were also involved in gambling. From August 21, 2018 to October 22, 2018, Quy and Cuong used their phones to gamble in the form of lottery. Specifically, Quy played lottery with Cuong over the phone for 120 million VND; Quy played lottery with Le Thi Hong (residing in Ha Tinh province) for nearly 35 million VND.

At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes. Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Quy to 12 years in prison for "Extortion", 1 year in prison for "Illegal detention", 2 years in prison for "Gambling", with a total sentence of 15 years in prison; Vo Manh Cuong to 7 years in prison for the above 3 crimes; Tran Van Tuan to 8 years in prison for "Extortion" and "Illegal detention"; Thang to 5 years in prison for "Extortion" and "Illegal detention"./.

Tran Vu