Vietnam on Monday sentenced four suspects in the death of 39 Vietnamese in a truck in the UK to prison terms of between 2.5 and 7.5 years, reports The Guardian.
The suspects are all between 26 and 36 years old. They have been found guilty of organizing illegal immigration and human trafficking by a court in the central province of Ha Tinh, Vietnam. At least two others received a suspended sentence.
The 39 Vietnamese were found in a refrigerator truck in the United Kingdom last year. They turned out to have been victims of a group of people smugglers. The victims were discovered after the driver had made the crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium to the port of Purfleet, a few dozen kilometers east of London.
The 31 men and 8 women in the truck probably died from a combination of lack of oxygen and overheating in an enclosed space. This emerged from a preliminary research report earlier this year.
There is also a case about the death of the group in the United Kingdom. In addition, several suspects were arrested in France and Belgium. In the British case, the driver of the truck pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April. He previously admitted to being involved in illegal immigration. He was arrested shortly after the bodies were found.
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