Defendants in Dong Tam case ask for sentence reduction

Defendants at the court (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Six defendants in the case of “murder” and “resisting on-duty officers” that happened in Hoanh village of Dong Tam commune in Hanoi’s My Duc district, asked for penalty reduction during an appeal trial held by the High-level People's Court in Hanoi on March 8. 

The defendants lodging appeals consist of Le Dinh Cong, Le Dinh Chuc, Le Dinh Doanh, Bui Viet Hieu, Nguyen Quoc Tien, and Bui Thi Noi.

At the first-instance trial held in September last year, the Hanoi People’s Court handed down penalties to 29 defendants.

Found guilty of “murder”, Cong and Chuc were sentenced to death, Doanh life imprisonment, Hieu 16 years in prison, and Tien 13 years behind bars.

With the same offence, Nguyen Van Tuyen received a penalty of 12 years in jail.

Accused of “resisting on-duty officers”, 23 other defendants were given sentences of between 15 months’ probation to six years in prison. Among them, Bui Thi Noi was imprisoned for six years.

Cong, who was sentenced to death in the first-instance trial for masterminding the murder of public security officers and assigning tasks to other defendants, said that he was only guilty of resisting on-duty officers and asked the appeal court to lessen his sentence. 

Meanwhile, Chuc, Doanh, Hieu and Tien also proposed the High-level People's Court in Hanoi reduce sentences against them. 

Only defendant Noi disagreed with the trial court’s six-month sentence for “resisting on-duty officers” and asked the appeal court to reconsider it. 

The six defendants accused of “murder” had closely colluded with others who were key members of a so-called “group of consensus” led by Le Dinh Kinh. Kinh was shot dead while holding a grenade and calling on others to resist on-duty officers.

Cong was the leader and often incited others to kill police officers by posting video clips and livestreaming on social networks. He also threatened to bomb power stations and kill 300-500 police officers, assigned tasks to other defendants, and actively performed these acts.

He also directed and contributed money to buy petrol and grenades, guided others how to make petrol bombs and tinder, and directly threw petrol bombs and grenades toward on-duty officers./.