VietNamNet Bridge – Justice authorities of HCM City’s Binh Chanh District on Tuesday delivered a public apology to three men wrongly arrested and jailed for robbery.

Khuu Khanh Sy, Tran Van Uong and Ong Van Set (from left to right) as they receive the apology from HCM City’s Binh Chanh District justice authorities on Tuesday. — Photo tuoitre.vn

Representatives of Binh Chanh People’s Procuracy, Court and Investigation Police apologised in person to Ong Van Set and Khuu Khanh Sy, both 35, and 28-year-old Tran Van Uong at their hometown in Hoa Dong Commune in the southern province of Soc Trang.

The case began five years ago, on December 12, 2012, when police in the district’s Le Minh Xuan Commune received a report about two young men attempting to rob a couple on Tran Dai Nghia Street.

The police later found Uong and Sy near the scene, who admitted at the police station they planned the robbery with two others, Ong Van Set and Tran Van Den.

The four men worked at an animal feed manufacturing facility in the commune.

Binh Chanh Police on December 10, 2012, decided to initiate a full investigation against Uong, Sy and Set on the charge of robbery. The district court sentenced Uong and Sy to one year, seven months and nine days in prison in July 2014, although the two insisted they were innocent and appealed to the HCM City Court.

Uong told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper that the group was preparing a new batch of animal feed that night when they saw a group a people on motorbikes riding at a high speed. 

“Soon after, we were brought to the police station and charged with robbery. The police there told us to copy what they had written and said they would let us go. But I wasn’t released and instead beaten with batons on my arms, legs and shoulders,” Uong said.

“It hurt so much that I had to admit the wrongdoing.”

The HCM City Court of Appeal decided to cancel the previous court’s verdict and ordered a reinvestigation into the case.

During that time, Ong Van Set returned to his hometown in Soc Trang until he was arrested by Binh Chanh Police in November 2015 and prosecuted in connection with the robbery charge.

He got bail in June last year, six months before the Binh Chanh People’s Procuracy officially suspended the investigation against the three due to lack of evidence and witnesses, even as the defendants denied any wrongdoing. 

VNS