29 on trial in Vietnam for drug trafficking and police corruption
Par Vietnam aujourd'hui le lundi 15 mars 2010, 08:33 - News in english - Lien permanent
A trial of 29 people who include former police officers and judges accused of being involved in a massive heroin trafficking and corruption case began in northern Vietnam, a court official said Friday. Nguyen Van Hoa, an official at the People's Court in Thai Nguyen province, said the trial, which started Wednesday, was the largest drug-trafficking case ever seen in the province and was expected to last more than two weeks.
The accused included 21 people charged with trafficking 18 kilograms of heroin from 2004 to 2006, Hoa said. The group centered around former Hanoi policeman Nguyen Van Dua, 43.
The eight other defendants are former policemen, court officials and judges accused of accepting bribes to allow Dua and his accomplices to escape sentencing in 2006 when the case first went to trial. All the accused were acquitted at that time.
According to the newspaper Phap Luat, Dua, then a policeman in Hanoi, was originally arrested in 2006 for corruption in a different drug case. The mother of a convicted drug trafficker accused him of accepting bribes in exchange for a promise to help her son avoid the death penalty.
When her son was executed anyway, the mother turned Dua in. While arresting Dua, police found packages of heroin at his home and uncovered his involvement in the drug-trafficking ring in Thai Nguyen.
If convicted, Dua could face the death penalty.
Deutsche Presse Agentur - March 15, 2010
