Prison guards get time for helping death-row inmate get pregnant

The People's Court of Hoa Binh City sentenced Nguyen Thuyen to five years and Bui Minh Quyet to three and a half years in prison in the two-day trial that ended Wednesday, according to Nguyen Viet Long, chief judge of the court.

"Thuyen and Quyet were charged with abusing power while on duty and they pleaded guilty at the trial," Long said.

The two warders helped a male prisoner have liaisons with death-row prisoner Nguyen Thi Oanh at the Hoa Binh Detention Center, resulting in her becoming pregnant in June 2006.

Since Vietnamese law forbids the death sentence from being applied to pregnant women, Oanh's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment shortly after the pregnancy was discovered.

"The two officers opened Oanh's cell many times for a male prisoner to get in and have sexual intercourse with her at least five times after Thuyen took  1.5 million dong (100 dollars) from Oanh's sister," said judge Long.

Oanh, 40, had been sentenced to death in April 2006 for smuggling up to seven kilograms of heroin and 26 kilograms of amphetamine tablets in 2004.

Her case is believed to be the first instance in Vietnam of a death-row prisoner avoiding execution through post-trial pregnancy.

Oanh gave birth to a baby boy on March 25 this year at the clinic of the detention centre, 80 kilometres southwest of Hanoi.

He son remains in prison with his mother until he stops breastfeeding, at which time Oanh's family will take him, Long said.//DPA