Today, the court of appeal heard the former commune Party Secretary who killed and burned a body.
Previously, the defendant was sentenced to death for four charges of murder, abuse of trust to appropriate property, destruction of property and violation of graves.
It is expected that on December 20, at the headquarters of the People's Court of Dak Nong province, the High-Level People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City will hear the appeal of the murder and body burning case against defendant Do Van Minh (50 years old, former Party Secretary of Lien Ha commune, Lam Ha, Lam Dong).
Previously, on May 18, due to the absence of some witnesses, the trial was adjourned. The panel of judges requested to summon these witnesses for an objective and comprehensive trial.
In January 2021, Mr. Do Van Minh was sentenced to death by the Dak Nong Provincial Court of First Instance for four counts of murder.abuse of trust and misappropriation of property, destruction of property and desecration of graves.
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| Nguyen Van Minh was prosecuted on four charges: murder, property destruction, grave violation, and abuse of trust to appropriate property. |
The case shows that Minh borrowed money from many people and was unable to repay the debt. Minh intended to find a dead body, put it in a car, burn it, and create a fake traffic accident scene so that people would mistake him for dead.
This was to seize the money Minh owed and for Minh's wife and children to receive insurance money of up to 18 billion VND according to the contract signed with the insurance company.
At around 0:00 on April 26, 2020, Minh went to the cemetery to dig a grave to retrieve the body but was unsuccessful so he left. On the evening of May 3, 2020, Minh ate dinner and slept at the farmhouse of Mr. Tran Nho Vuong (Minh's wife's cousin) about 300 meters from Minh's farmhouse.
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| After killing his nephew, Minh created a fake traffic accident scene that caused his car to catch fire in order to fool everyone into thinking he was dead. Photo: Lao Dong |
At midnight the next day, Minh woke up, went outside the house to get a hammer (the kind used to chop wood) and continued to pry open the coffin lid. However, at that time, Minh had the intention of killing Mr. Vuong, so he used the hammer to hit him twice on the forehead, causing the victim to die.
Minh then drove the car carrying Mr. Vuong’s body towards Lam Dong. On the way, Minh crashed the car into a milestone on the side of the road to create an accident scene. There, Minh put the victim’s body in the driver’s seat, took off his watch, put it on the victim’s wrist, and set it on fire.
According to the lawyer, the testimony of the witnesses was that they knew and saw the defendant Minh after he caused the death of Mr. Tran Nho Vuong. This is a new detail, logical with the time and testimony of the defendant Minh.
Therefore, the lawyer requested the Trial Panel to postpone the trial and summon witnesses to clarify the truth of the case and ensure an objective trial. After consultation, the Trial Panel decided to postpone the trial to summon witnesses./.