Hanoi (VNA) - The Hanoi People’s Court on September 7 opened the first-instancetrial for 29 people involved in the murder of three policemen in Dong Tamcommune of the city’s My Duc district.

Representativesof the People’s Committee of Dong Tam commune, the People’s Committee of My Ducdistrict, and families of the victims, were present at the trial.

A total of 33lawyers defending the accused, and three others representing the victims’families appeared at the court.

All thedefendants are residents of Hoanh and Dong Mit hamlets in Dong Tam commune.Among them, 25 face the charge of “murder” under Article 123 of the 2015 PenalCode, while the four remainders are accused of “resisting on-duty officers” inpursuant to Article 330 of the code.

According to theprocuracy’s indictment, despite being well aware that the land at the Senhfield of Dong Tam commune was used for defence purpose under the management ofthe Defence Ministry as confirmed by the Hanoi Inspectorate and the GovernmentInspectorate, in 2013, Le Dinh Kinh (born in 1936, a resident in Hoanh hamlet)and some others set up a so-called “group of consensus” with the aim ofre-occupying and dividing the land lot among themselves.

They frequentlyincited locals to file complaints about the Dong Tam administration’s landmanagement and use, used social networks to spread the false information thatthe Senh field belongs to Dong Tam commune and called on local people to“struggle to keep the land”.

In late 2019 andearly 2020, upon learning that the Hanoi Department of Public Securitycoordinated with the air defence – air force service of the Defence Ministry todeploy personnel to protect the force building fencing walls around the MieuMon airfield on the Senh field, Kinh and his accomplices bought weapons withthe aim of attacking the authorised force.

In the earlyhours on January 9, 2020, when the police arrived at the gate of Hoanh hamlet,about 50m from Kinh’s house,  the groupused hand-made weapons to attack the police force, causing three policeofficers to fall into a pit near Kinh’s house. Le Dinh Chuc and Le Dinh Doanhpoured gasoline into the pit and set fire, killing the three policemen.

At the sametime, the authorised force found Kinh holding a grenade and calling on othersto resist, so they decided to shoot him dead.

 Investigation results show that Le Dinh Kinhand four others were the masterminds, who both directed others to commit anddirectly engaged in the murder of the policemen.

 However, as Kinh had died, he was not includedin the case.

Also in themorning of January 9, when the police was conducting their mission at thejunior high school and the fish pond in Dong Tam, three suspects attacked themwith knives. After they were arrested by the police, two other women alsoattacked the police with knives and stones. The women managed to fled but laterhanded themselves in.

The trial isscheduled to last for 10 days./.