Defendants in two wildlife crime cases have been handed prison sentences, ENV has just learned from courts in central Vietnam.
In the first case, which was judged on March 19th, the subject was sentenced to 36 months in prison for transporting four live tiger cubs and a large number of pangolins. The defendant formally requested a reduced sentence, but the judge refused this request as the defendant committed the crime during his probation period from a previous offence.
In the second case, judged on March 7th, four subjects who hunted two red-shanked douc langurs in the forest area of Da Nang City were prosecuted with two crimes: hunting wildlife and using prohibited explosives. The group leader was sentenced to two years in prison, and the other three each received sentences of 1.5 years imprisonment.
ENV is glad that the Vietnamese courts have dealt appropriately severe punishments to these wildlife criminals. Hopefully it is indicative of a change in attitude away from the lenience typically displayed by the Vietnamese courts.
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