Ly A Va and Va A Say, to two ethnic men in northern...

Ly A Va and Va A Say, to two ethnic men in northern mountainous Lai Chau province, were sentenced to death for murder and drug trafficking. They were found guilty of having killed a policeman from the Lai Chau Drug Control Squad and two other people during an undercover operation in October 2001.
Their accomplice, Sin A Pau, was sentenced to 18 years in jail. Pau escaped the death penalty because he was 17 years old at the time. Vietnam handed down the death penalty to 55 drug traffickers last year, down from 85 in 2000 and 76 in 1999. Those trafficking from 600g of heroin upwards (around 21 ounces) will be sentenced to death under prevailing laws.