The appeal hearing of the land dispute in Dong Tam ended earlier than planned when the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi kept the sentences given by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in mid-September last year, including two death sentences for the two sons of killed-by-police communal leader Le Dinh Kinh, who was shot by police in a raid in January last year.
Two of the 14 lawyers defending 6 land petitioners-defendants in the hearing scheduled to take place in 3 days from March 8, two lawyers Nguyen Van Mieng and Dang Dinh Manh told VOA right after the trial ended in the evening of March 9.
Six people sentenced are among 29 Dong Tam land petitioners who were sentenced by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in September last year for “murder” and “resisting against on-duty state officials” involved in the raid in which 3 police officers reportedly died.
“The court has sentenced six defendants who appealed, including two death sentences, a life sentence, a 16-year sentence, a 13-year sentence, and a six-year sentence,” said lawyer Mieng told VOA after the court panel issued its decision at 7 PM of March 9.
Two death sentences were sent to the two sons of Mr. Kinh, Le Dinh Cong, and Le Dinh Chuc, who were accused of “masterminding and leading the murder.” Meanwhile, a nephew of Mr. Kinh, Le Dinh Doanh, was sentenced to life for the same allegation.
Bui Viet Hieu and Nguyen Quoc Tuyen, who was accused of being together with the above defendants “mastermind the leader, both directing and directly committing the crime” were sentenced to 16 years and 13 years in prison, respectively. The court also sentenced Ms. Bui Thi Noi, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison for “resisting against on-duty state officials.” She got the highest sentence among 23 other land petitioners alleged of the same crime.
Earlier on March 8, when the appeal hearing testified, Ms. Le Thi Duyen, a family member of Mr. Kinh, told VOA about her family’s expectations for an appeal hearing in which “sentences will be changed because there are many unacceptable and blatant facts to our people and they have not been clearly proven.”
The Dong Tam case happened early on January 9, 2020, when Vietnam’s regime deployed thousands of riot policemen to attack Hoanh village in My Duc district of Hanoi, where there was a land dispute between the city’s government and the local people. Mr. Kinh, the communal leader of the Dong Tam land petitioners, was shot dead while the police had three people killed in the attack that the authorities said to “ensure security and order” for the construction work of the Mieu Mon airport fence. Meanwhile, land petitioners put on trial said they were only “protecting the land” and “defending” in a situation where they and their family members were in danger during the police raid.
Lawyer Ha Huy Son, also an advocate for the defendants, expressed his disappointment about the appeal hearing of the Dong Tam case on his personal Facebook page when he said he “had nothing to say” about the appeal court’s decisions.
Earlier on March 9, the Procuracy asked the court to uphold the sentences because they said that the first -instance verdicts of the Dong Tam case “were declared in accordance with the law, strictly to the conspirators and for those who are drawn,” according to Tuoi Tre newspaper.
According to attorney Mieng, the 14 defense lawyers did their best to help the defendants appealing for the mitigation of the penalty but were unsuccessful.
“At the hearing, the defendants testified that their resistance was not intended to kill people and the lawyers also presented evidence that three police officers fell on pit themselves,” said Mieng, adding the case had a” fuzzy point “when the 419A was not released to see if it was “justified.”
According to this lawyer, the court as well as the procuracy said that “this is a confidential document, the secret plan cannot be announced.”
“Because it is ‘confidential,’ we cannot know if the civil service and legitimacy of the 419A plan are correct or is this a plan to attack people’s homes with the purpose of killing Mr. Kinh,” Mieng said, adding that other requests from the defense lawyers were also denied at the hearing, such as re-establishing the scene where the three police officers were allegedly “killed.”
Under Vietnam’s procedural law, judgments take effect immediately after the appeal hearing, unless new facts are brought to trial at the Cassation Review Court.
The defendants sentenced to death have 7 days to ask for amnesty from the State President and, according to lawyer Mieng, Mr. Chuc decided not to ask for the amnesty.
Meanwhile, also according to Mieng, Mr. Cong may apply for amnesty but not hope because he thinks the indictment “lies and miserable.”
The death sentences will be executed immediately if the President rejects the defendants’ application for amnesty.
Many international human rights organizations and governments, including the US, have spoken out against the verdict against villagers in Dong Tam and called on the Vietnamese government to be transparent about what happened in the bloody raid last year.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
