Wanted for 20 years, arrested because of being praised on TV

Participating in a brawl that left one person dead, Tan was identified as the ringleader, but he was on the run for 20 years, his whereabouts only discovered when he was honored in the program "Shining in Daily Life".

As planned, on September 25, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court will bring Nguyen Minh Tan (former deputy head of the People's Protection Department of Binh Hung Hoa A Ward, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City - a fugitive who was exposed after being praised on TV for 20 years - to trial for the second time.

Previously, at the first instance trial in September 2015, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Tan to 1 year and 6 months in prison on September 14, 2015 (first instance trial) for "Disturbing public order".

Then, in September 2016, the High Court of Appeal in Ho Chi Minh City annulled the first instance verdict and ordered a retrial. According to the first instance verdict, at around 2 a.m. on November 11, 1994, Tan organized a drinking party with about 10 young men (including Nguyen Dinh Lam) in front of alley 1, Dien Bien Phu Street, Ward 15, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Lam went to Ms. Nguyen Thi Phien (who sells duck porridge and gasoline on the sidewalk) nearby to buy 2 liters of gasoline but she did not agree. Ms. Phien's nephew, Nguyen Canh Tang, insulted Lam, so Lam got angry and smashed a beer bottle and chased Tang to beat her.

Tang escaped, Lam turned around and smashed Phien's porridge glass cabinet and then went back to tell his drinking buddies about the story. Angry, the group returned to Phien's place to talk.

Nguyen Minh Tan at the appeal hearing.

When arriving, he saw Nguyen Long standing watching so he asked to borrow the lighter and forgot to return it, leading to a conflict.Long was about to leave when suddenly 4-5 young men from Lam's group came and grabbed his collar, threatening to beat him. Tan ran out to stop him (Tan and Long knew each other before).

At that time, Long took a stick and started fighting with a group of young men. Long's two older brothers, Nguyen Lan and Nguyen Lieng, heard that their brother was beaten and immediately took wooden sticks to join the fight. The group of young men fought back, using knives, machetes to stab, slash, and used iron rods to beat Nguyen Lieng and Nguyen Lan until they fell to the ground.

Mrs. Huynh Thi Don (mother of the three Long brothers) came to take Lan and Lieng to the emergency room, but Lan died on the way to the hospital.

Tan, Lam and Long were later prosecuted for “Disturbing public order” and “Murder”. In 1995, Ho Chi Minh City Police completed the investigation and determined that “Tan was the leader and the one who directly stabbed the victim to death. Because Tan fled, a warrant was issued for his arrest for the two crimes of “Murder” and “Disturbing public order”.

In October 1995, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Lam to 3 years in prison and Long to 2 years in prison for "disturbing public order".

During his time on the run, Tan wandered around many places, changed his name to Vo Minh Hung, and then became the deputy security guard of Ward 5 in Binh Hung Hoa A Ward, Binh Tan District. With his achievements in fighting crime and catching robbers in the area, in 2014, Tan was one of the people honored in the program "Shining in Daily Life".

After many years of searching for Tan, in August 2014, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Linh (the victim's sister) happened to watch a program broadcast on TV and discovered that the man named Vo Minh Hung who was being praised, receiving flowers and certificates of merit was the suspect in the murder of her brother, so she reported it to the police. She also confirmed that on the arm of the person who was accused of killing her brother, there was a tattoo of the words "Tan misses his mother".

On September 12, 2014, Nguyen Minh Tan surrendered to the police station of Binh Hung Hoa A ward and was arrested.

After resuming the investigation, Ho Chi Minh City Police based on the previous investigation results and witness statements concluded that Tan committed the crimes of “Murder” and “Disturbing public order”. However, Tan did not admit to the act of “Murder”. He claimed that he only used a militia baton to join in the beating and did not cause any injuries to anyone.

At the appeal hearing on September 14, 2016, the People's Procuracy stated its opinion that the first instance judgment of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court (first time) was pronounced without clarifying the testimony of the witnesses; the defendant Tan had contradictions in his testimony, sometimes he testified because he was afraid of revenge from the victim's family, sometimes he testified because he was afraid of revenge from his accomplices in the group... From the above assessment, the People's Procuracy requested the panel of judges to accept the appeal of the victim's family, annul the first instance judgment to investigate and clarify the case.

The victim's family also appealed the first instance verdict. At the appeal hearing, the family and the lawyer representing the victim's family argued that there was sufficient basis to convict the defendant Tan of "Murder", and requested the Court to convict the defendant of this crime.

The appellate court accepted the opinion of the People's Procuracy, thereby annulling the first instance judgment and assigning the investigation agency to fully clarify the case. However, after the investigation period, the People's Procuracy considered that there was not enough basis to convict Tan of "Murder", so it did not prosecute him for this crime.

According to Vietnamnet