Hung Yen Procuracy: 'First instance verdict on white pheasant case is not consistent with policy changes'

On August 13, the leader of the People's Procuracy of Hung Yen province said that defendant Thai Khac Thanh's preventive measure had just been changed from temporary detention toprohibited from leaving the place of residence, pending appeal.

According to the People's Procuracy of Hung Yen province, the first-instance criminal judgment No. 35/2025/HS-ST dated August 8, 2025 of the People's Court of Region 5, Hung Yen province, determining that the defendant Thai Khac Thanh committed the crime of "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals" is inappropriate.

In the appendix of the list of endangered, precious and rare species issued together with Circular No. 27/2025/TT-BNNMT dated June 24, 2025 of the Minister of Agriculture and Environment effective from July 1, 2025, regulating the management of endangered, precious and rare species; raising common wild animals and implementing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the white pheasant has the scientific name Lophura nycthemera, belongs to the class of birds (Aves), order of chickens (Galliformes), family of pheasants (Phasianidae) in group IIB (no longer in group IB, Decree No. 84/2021/ND-CP of the Government as when initiating investigation and prosecution).

The first instance criminal judgment No. 35/2025/HS-ST dated August 8, 2025 of the People's Court of Region 5, Hung Yen province determined that: 13 individuals seized from Thai Khac Thanh were "White pheasants, a bird species currently recorded in Appendix I - Group IB, Decree No. 84/2021/ND-CP of the Government, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 06/2019/ND-CP dated January 22, 2019 of the Government on the management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)" and declared the defendant Thai Khac Thanh guilty of the crime of "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals", as prescribed in Point b, Clause 2, Article 244 of the Penal Code, is not in accordance with the change of policy and law.

The above behavior of Thai Khac Thanh has signs of the crime of "Violating regulations on wildlife protection" stipulated in Article 234 of the Penal Code, however, it is necessary to re-investigate and determine the value of the pheasants seized from Thai Khac Thanh as a basis for resolving the case according to the provisions of law.

The People's Procuracy of Hung Yen province requested the People's Court of Hung Yen province to try the case according to the appellate procedure, annul the first instance criminal judgment No. 35/2025/HS-ST of the People's Court of Region 5, Hung Yen province to reinvestigate according to the provisions of law.

The People's Procuracy of Hung Yen province also requested the People's Court of Hung Yen province to cancel the detention measure against defendant Thai Khac Thanh according to the provisions of law.

According to the case file, in 2022, Thai Khac Thanh searched for information on social networks and learned that white pheasants are endangered, rare animals that need to be preserved, cannot be raised, caged, bought or sold, and have high value, so he came up with the idea of ​​breeding them and selling them to get money for spending.

In 2024, Thanh bought a male pheasant on social media from a stranger in Can Tho for 4.5 million VND. Later, also via social media, Thanh contacted and exchanged with a stranger in Dien Chau district, Nghe An province to exchange a fire-breasted shama that he was raising for two female pheasants from this person, to raise together with the previously purchased male pheasant.

During the raising process, Thanh did not register with the competent authority about raising the pheasants. After raising them, the female pheasants laid 13 eggs, hatched 10 chicks, 3 eggs were spoiled.

In March 2025, wanting to sell baby pheasants for money, Thanh used his personal Facebook to post a picture of a pheasant with the caption: "Someone asked for ornamental chickens, and today there are two flocks. If anyone wants them, please message me." In addition, Thanh also posted two posts on a group specializing in rare birds and breeds with the caption: "Is anyone preserving them..", along with pictures of parent pheasants and baby pheasants.

On March 26, Thanh received a text message from an unknown account with unknown name, age, and address, asking to buy 10 baby pheasants. The two parties agreed on a price of 500,000 VND/chicken, with a payment of 5 million VND. Because the chicks were still young, the buyer asked Thanh to raise them for a few more days with a fee of 1 million VND and scheduled the delivery date for April 2.

Thanh then used his wife Nguyen Thi Oanh's bank account number to receive a deposit of 2 million VND from an account named Bui Tuan Anh (residing in Minh Lang commune, Vu Thu district, former Thai Binh province). The remaining 4 million VND and 2.6 million VND for transportation fee will be paid after the buyer receives the full amount.

At 7:00 a.m. on April 1, Thanh called Thai Dinh Son (formerly residing in Do Luong district) to hire him to transport the chickens to deliver to the customer. Son agreed and agreed to pay 2.6 million VND for the chicken delivery fee. At around 3:00 p.m. the same day, Mr. Son received a call from an unknown phone number, asking him to transport the chickens to Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province.

Due to poor eyesight and the long distance, Son hired Hoang Van Truyen (born in 1991, from the same hometown) to transport Thanh's chickens to Thai Binh for a salary of 2.5 million VND.

At around 7:00 a.m. on April 2, a car carrying 10 chicks drove to DH07 road, in Quy Son village, Song An commune, Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province (old). The Thai Binh provincial police checked and seized the chickens.

Searching Thai Khac Thanh's house, the Investigation Police Agency of Thai Binh Province seized 3 more pheasants.