Defendants listen to the first-instance court's verdict. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi-based High-level People’s Court will open an appeal trial onMay 4 for a case of acquiringState-owned land illegally in the central city that involved two former top leaders of Da Nang and real estate mogul Phan Van AnhVu.
The first-instance on the case was held from January 2-13this year. Of the 21 convicts in the case, 20 filed appeals.
Tran Van Minh, chairman of the city’s People’s Committee for the 2006 – 2011 term,appealed against his combined sentence of 17 years on the charges of breaching regulations on managing and using State assets thatcaused losses and wastefulness, and violations of land management regulations.Minh said he was only following the city’s policies.
Former chairmanof the city’s People’s Committee Van Huu Chien, 66, asked the court tore-consider the punishment and decision on civilian liability. He was given acombined sentence of 12 years in prison on the same charges as Minh.
Phan Van AnhVu appealed against the first-instance sentence, under which he has toserve 30 years in prison also on the charges of of breaching regulations on managing and using State assets that caused lossesand wastefulness, and violations of land management regulations.
The other defendants argued that they only followedinstructions of their superiors and asked for reduced sentences.
According tothe verdict at the first-instance trial, Minh and Chien were tasked with managing State’s assets and public land inthe city during their time in office between 2006 and 2014.
The tworepeatedly signed orders to illegally transfer land use rights over to Vu atmuch lower prices thanthose regulated by the Da Nang People’s Committee.
At the time of the first-instance trial, Vu was already serving a sentence of nine yearsafter a Hanoi court found him guilty of deliberately disclosing state secretslast year./.
VNA
