Court upholds sentences against 14 defendants in airport terror plot

Thứ Ba, 05/06/2018, 21:36
The High-level People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on June 5 decided to uphold sentences against 14 out of 16 defendants who had appealed in the case involved in a terrorism plot targeting Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The defendants involved in a terrorism plot targeting Tan Son Nhat International Airport at the court on June 4. (Photo: VNA)

The defendants were given imprisonment sentences ranging from five to 16 years on the charge of “terrorism against the people’s administration” according to Article 84 of the Penal Code 1999.

According to the court, the defendants failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove their innocence. 

They had been enticed by reactionary elements abroad to engage in activities against the administration and the people, such as spreading false and distorted information on social networks, participating in demonstrations, inciting others to join demonstrations and conduct terrorism acts, recruiting members for reactionary organisations and making weapons. 

These acts are particularly serious, endangering society and infringing upon national security as well as public health and assets, the verdict said.

After the first-instance trial of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on December 27, 2017, 14 out of the 16 defendants appealed.

The court sentenced Dang Hoang Thien, born in 1992, residing in HCM City, to 16 years in prison for his main role in making and planting petrol bombs at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City on April 22, 2017, and his involvement in setting fire to the warehouse of Bien Hoa city police in the southern province of Dong Nai on April 8, 2017.

Nguyen Duc Sinh (born in 1985 in central Quang Ngai province), the instigator of the April arson attack on Bien Hoa city police’s warehouse, was given 10 years in jail. 

At the appeal trial, both Thien and Sinh admitted their offences. Thien appealed for a reduced penalty.
VNA