QUANG NINH (VNS) — The Supreme People’s Court of the northern province of Quang Ninh, yesterday began an appellate trial for the biggest drug trafficking case in Viet Nam involving 5,000 cakes of heroin.
Each cake is equivalent to 350 grams.
The case involved Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, born in 1960 in the northern province of Bac Giang, and dozens of other defendants.
In the preliminary hearing held in January this year, the provincial People’s Court awarded the death penalty to 30 drug traffickers, life imprisonment to 13 defendants and up to 20 years in jail to many others, on the charges of drug trafficking, forging documents and hiding military weapons. They were also convicted for doing illegal business, not denouncing criminals, bribing and mediating bribery.
Among the 89 defendants in the preliminary trial, forty appealed for a reduction in their sentences, one requested a review of his charges, and one continued to plead his innocence.
The trial is expected to last until June 20.
In a separate case, the HCM City People’s Court yesterday meted out life sentence to Le Thi Chau Hang, 32 on charges of drug trafficking.
Earlier in 2006, Hang was sentenced to eight years in prison for the same charge. — VNS
Trial for record drug case starts Related image(s)
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