Just sentenced, still organizing for others to escape abroad

On the morning of June 7, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Tran Dinh Huu (born 1986, residing in Van Dien commune, Nam Dan district) for the crime of organizing others to flee abroad.

Defendant Tran Dinh Huu. Photo: Tran Vu

The investigation agency determined that, although he did not have the function of sending Vietnamese citizens to work abroad, around the beginning of April 2016, Tran Dinh Huu, through two intermediaries, Nguyen Hoang Trieu and Hoang Niem, received documents to complete procedures for 4 people to work in Germany at a cost of 17,500 USD. In addition, Huu also directly received documents to complete procedures for another person to work in Russia at a cost of 1,500 USD.

After receiving the deposit but failing to get visas for the workers as agreed, Huu and the intermediaries discussed getting visas to the Russian Federation, then from the Russian Federation, completing procedures to go to Germany.

On September 18, 2016, the workers flew from Cam Ranh airport (Khanh Hoa) to the Russian Federation. When their 3-month stay in the Russian Federation was almost over but they could not go to Germany, the workers returned to Vietnam on December 9, 2016. Afterwards, the victims asked Huu, Niem, and Trieu to return all the money they had embezzled.

It is known that in 2010, Tran Dinh Huu was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the People's Court of Dong Da District, Hanoi, but given a suspended sentence for the crime of "Abuse of property appropriation".

In June 2016, Huu was sentenced by the People's Court of Nghe An province to 9 months in prison for organizing others to flee abroad, with a probationary period of 24 months. During his time on bail, Huu escaped.

The panel of judges assessed that these were aggravating circumstances for the defendant in this case. Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced Tran Dinh Huu to 24 months in prison, plus the outstanding sentence from the previous case, forcing the defendant to receive a total sentence of 48 months in prison.