Sentenced to death, two defendants claim innocence
(Baonghean.vn) - After being sentenced to death by the court of first instance, the two defendants Nguyen Canh Vinh and Phan Van Phien did not admit to drug trafficking and appealed, claiming their innocence.
On October 20, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a criminal trial.appealtried 3 defendants including: Nguyen Canh Vinh (born 1973), residing in Trang Son commune, Do Luong district (Nghe An) and Phan Van Phien (born 1981), residing in Nam N'Jang commune, Dak Song district (Dak Nong) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking"; defendant Tran Khac Bay (born 1983), residing in Cong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh (Nghe An) for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs". Defendant Phien was also prosecuted for the crime of "Illegal possession of drugs".
According to the indictment, in February 2020, Nguyen Canh Vinh discussed with Phan Van Phien that Vinh would bring drugs from Nghe An to Dak Nong province for Phien to sell at a price of 200 million VND per heroin cake or 1 kilogram of crystal meth.
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| Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
Phien said Tran Khac Bay met Vinh to receive drugs to be transported for Phien. To avoid detection by the authorities, Vinh agreed to call heroin "dry" and crystal meth "water" or used characters such as "ko", "n", "k" when making transactions.
On February 25-26, 2020, Vinh gave Bay 4 heroin cakes (nearly 1.4 kg) and 3 packages of crystal meth (more than 3 kg) to transport to Dak Nong province to deliver to Phien.
On the morning of February 26, 2020, when Bay had just gotten out of a taxi in Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh) to get on a bus to the Central Highlands, he was discovered by authorities and caught red-handed with nearly 4.4 kg of various drugs.
Based on Bay's testimony, on February 28, 2020, the police arrested Nguyen Canh Vinh. Eight days later, Phan Van Phien was also arrested. Searching Phien's house, the police seized some opium resin, more than 4 grams of crystal meth, and more than 9 grams of heroin.
The first instance trial held in April 2021 sentenced defendants Nguyen Canh Vinh and Phan Van Phien to death; defendant Tran Khac Bay to life in prison.
After that, all three defendants filed appeals. The two defendants Vinh and Phien appealed, claiming their innocence, while the defendant Bay appealed for a reduced sentence.
At the appeal hearing, the defendants maintained their appeals. The two defendants Vinh and Phien did not admit to drug trafficking and asserted that they were wronged. The defendant Bay confessed honestly and also provided some details such as saving a drowning person to ask for a lighter sentence.
The appellate court determined that although the two defendants Nguyen Canh Vinh and Phan Van Phien did not admit to committing the crime, based on the documents and evidence that had been examined, and based on the testimony of defendant Bay, it affirmed that the appeal of the two defendants was baseless.
Therefore, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeals of the defendants. The death sentence was upheld for defendants Nguyen Canh Vinh and Phan Van Phien. The life sentence was handed down to Tran Khac Bay.