Wife 'follows' ex-husband into drug trafficking
(Baonghean.vn) - Her ex-husband was a drug dealer and was sentenced to the highest sentence, but Chien was still addicted to that deadly substance. After the first instance verdict, Chien appealed for a lighter sentence and the court accepted it.
On September 19, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened an appeal trial of Tran Thi Chien (born 1982), residing in Bao Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of“Illegal drug trafficking”.
The case file shows that in early November 2022, a woman named Hoa (unknown background) that Chien had known before came to his house and said she had drugs. Hearing that, Chien ordered a package of pink pills for 4.5 million VND.
Early in the morning of November 17, 2022, Hoa brought Chien 17 packages of pink drugs. Seeing the large amount of drugs, Chien told Hoa that if she did not have enough money, the seller would let her delay the debt. Chien divided the drugs into small packages and hid them in the house to sell gradually.
On November 20, 2022, when Chien was selling drugs disguised in cigarette packs to a customer for 1 million VND, he was caught red-handed by the police.
Searching Chien’s residence, the police discovered many packages of drugs hidden in the yard, bedroom and in a handbag. Authorities determined that Chien must bear criminal responsibility for buying and selling more than 300 grams of drugs.
At the first instance trial, the defendant admitted to drug trafficking but presented the fact that her ex-husband was in prison and her family’s difficult circumstances, asking the court to consider reducing her sentence. The first instance court sentenced Tran Thi Chien to 20 years in prison. The defendant then filed an appeal to reduce her sentence.
At the appeal hearing, the defendant presented new details that he had reported a crime to help the police solve the gambling case.
Considering this to be a new mitigating circumstance, the appellate court accepted the appeal and reduced the sentence from 20 years to 18 years in prison for defendant Tran Thi Chien.
