Vietnamese trafficker gets sentence lowered over UK refugee deaths

By Reuters February 23, 2023 | 09:56 pm PT

Nguyen Dinh Gia shows a barbell which was used by his son Nguyen Dinh Luyen, one of 39 who died in a truck container in the U.K., at his home in Ha Tinh Province, central Vietnam, October 27, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Belgian court of appeal on Thursday lowered the prison sentence for a Vietnamese trafficking gang leader over the manslaughter of 39 compatriots who suffocated in an airtight shipping container smuggled into Britain in 2019.

The Ghent court of appeal sentenced Vo Van Hong to 10 years in prison, reducing his original prison sentence by five years, kept his fine at 920,000 euros ($975,000), and said he didn't care about his victims.

"He took advantage of desperate people and wanted to make as much profit as possible. His victims were his income and the safety of the refugees was not a priority in any way," the court said in a summary of the case.

The bodies of the 39 Vietnamese people were found inside a container that had been placed on a ship in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

The discovery of so many dead people - two as young as 15 - in the back of the truck on an industrial estate to the east of London shocked Britain, Belgium and Vietnam.

Most of those who died were from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in north-central Vietnam.

Other co-defendants also saw their sentences reduced on appeal.