Please postpone the trial because of not having time to notify relatives to attend.
(Baonghean.vn) - Just counting the first instance court alone, this is the fifth time Nguyen Viet Duong has appeared in court. However, the empty courtroom, without a single relative, makes this man scared and confused.
Nguyen Viet Duong (born in 1977), residing in Quynh Hong commune, Quynh Luu, was prosecuted for two crimes of illegal drug trafficking and possession. After circling the auditorium without seeing any familiar faces, Duong bowed his head and walked to the defendant's position.
This is not the first time this man has been in court. The youngest of eight children, Duong only studied until the second grade. Duong's path to education was short, but his path to prison was quite long.
In 1995, Duong was sentenced by the People's Court of Quynh Luu district to 8 months in prison but given a suspended sentence, with a 15-month probation for the crime of "Theft of citizens' property". After the probation period, Duong went to the South to start a new life, but before he could reform, in 2001 he was arrested by the Dong Nai provincial police for "Illegal drug trafficking" and was sentenced to 8 years in prison by the People's Court of this province in a trial in early 2002.
In 2013, Nguyen Viet Duong was sentenced to 6 months in prison by the People's Court of Quynh Luu District (Nghe An) for the crime of "Gambling". In 2014, this man was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the People's Court of Dien Chau District (Nghe An) for the same crime.
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| Defendant Nguyen Viet Duong. Photo: Nhu Binh |
In July 2017, Duong bought 20 million VND worth of drugs to use, but because the drugs were of poor quality, he put them in a wooden cabinet and bought another type to use. Knowing that Duong was addicted to drugs and often went to Que Phong to buy goods, on January 8, 2018, a man named Dong (from Thanh Hoa) came to his house and asked if he could buy the goods for Dong, he would pay Duong 20 million VND. After depositing 600 million VND to buy 4 heroin cakes and 2kg of crystal meth, Duong called Dong to agree on the time and place to receive the goods. Because Dong had not received the goods, Duong hid them on the rooftop of the bathroom.
On the evening of January 10, Duong went to Que Phong to buy drugs from a man named Cuong. After agreeing to sell 4 packages of pink phien for 14 million VND, the man named Cuong "promoted" Duong 2 packages of crystal meth as a Tet gift. At around 12:00 on January 11, when Duong brought the drugs to Dien Truong commune (Dien Chau), he was discovered and caught red-handed by Dien Chau district police.
Searching Duong's house, authorities seized all the drugs that the subject had hidden.
On September 7, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial for Nguyen Viet Duong on two charges of "Illegal drug trafficking" and "Illegal drug possession". After the presiding judge completed the trial opening procedures, Nguyen Viet Duong asked to comment. According to the defendant, he only received the decision to bring the case to trial this morning, so he did not have time to notify his family and relatives to attend.
“The defendant was not mentally prepared. None of his relatives attended, so he felt confused,” Duong explained and asked the panel of judges to postpone the trial.
Although the regulations do not require the defendant's relatives to attend the trial, to ensure the defendant's psychological well-being, the panel of judges accepted Nguyen Viet Duong's request to postpone the trial.
