HÀ NỘI — HCM City’s Supreme Court on Thursday appealed against the 18-month probation of a 78-year-old man for molesting children in southern Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province.

The Supreme Court asked the jury to repeal the probation verdict of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province’s People’s Court last week and asked for the appeal trial to be started afresh.

In July 2017, Vũng Tàu Province’s People’s Court had sentenced Nguyễn Khắc Thuỷ to three years imprisonment on charges of sexually abusing children aged six and 11 in his residential area.

Following the verdict, Thuỷ submitted a petition asking for an appeal against the charge.

On May 11 this year, the appeal trial court agreed to give him a probation of 18 months as he was a former banking officer and is a member of the Communist Party.

The decision sparked public outrage and opposition from the National Assembly Standing Committee at a meeting this week.

Last week, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province’s People’s Procuracy delivered an urgent report to the Supreme People’s Procuracy on Thuỷ’s case.

In its report, the provincial People’s Procuracy affirmed that its indictment and verdict were accurate. Simultaneously, they considered aggravating and mitigating circumstances in deciding the sentence.

Meanwhile, HCM City Association for Children’s Protection submitted a report to the Supreme Court in HCM City, demanding a probe on the paedophile.

After the probation was cancelled on Thursday, the People’s Court of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province was ordered to suspend Huỳnh Ngọc Thiện, the magistrate who chaired Thủy’s appeal trial on May 11.

Thiện and other magistrates in the jury were asked to review their responsibilities in the appeal trial. — VNS