HANOI (Reuter) A court in the Vietnamese capital sentenced
eight people to death Wednesday and imposed a range of jail
terms on others at the end of the communist country's biggest
drug trial, a government official said.
Among those found guilty of involvement in a trafficking
ring, which is said to have flooded Vietnam with several hundred
kilos of heroin, were 11 police and border guard officials.
Police and border guards were part of the eight sentenced to
death.
A Foreign Ministry official told Reuters the sentencing
reflected the government's determination to deal strictly with a
growing scourge of drugs flowing into and through Vietnam from
Asia's narcoticsproducing Golden Triangle region.
``The quick investigation, early trial ... and harsh
punishment has shown the Vietnamese government's determination
not to compromise in the fight against drugs. At the same time
it also shows the strictness and justice of Vietnamese law,''
she said.
Scenes of near chaos outside the court building surrounded
the final moments of a trial, which has gripped the country for
days. Police used electric batons and motorbikes with sidecars
to keep hundreds of people at bay as the verdicts were being
read out inside.
The Foreign Ministry official said that among those being
sent to prison, eight would face life terms, while the remainder
would be jailed for periods of between one and 20 years.
But a lawyer said later that one of the defendants had been
given a suspended term.
The drug scandal is the biggest to surface in Vietnam,
partly because of the involvement of members of the powerful
security establishment.
The case erupted following the arrest and conviction of a
Laotian drug trafficker, who broke down in 1996 shortly before
he was due to be executed by firing squad and offered to
exchange information on the syndicate in exchange for leniency.
His ultimate fate remains unknown.
Under Vietnamese law people sentenced to death are given a
15day appeal period. If the appeal fails, their ultimate hopes
lie with a presidential pardon.