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Vietnamese convicts’ children – Part 1: How badly they need their parents

Vietnamese convicts’ children – Part 1: How badly they need their parents

Monday, October 19, 2015, 15:45 GMT+7

In Vietnam, many children are deprived of parental love and care as their parents are serving jail terms.

Unlike their peers, these kids are shorn of bonds with their own parents, many of whom later repent their wrongdoings and feel motivated to serve their terms well so as to be eligible for amnesty.

It is a common sight to see children desperately waiting outside the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court building, straining their eyes for a peek of their defendant parents as they are escorted to police trucks.

Minors under 16 are denied entry to court halls except when there are court summons.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters share some of the heartbreaking stories they have witnessed on the sidelines of court hearings.

Around 11:00 am one day, scorching heat stifled the air in a court hall which was packed with relatives of a female defendant named V.N.P.

P. wept at the life sentence which was proposed by the people’s procuracy for her charge of smuggling.

Her relatives and other participants also found her proposed penalty overly harsh.

After seeking consent from the police officers, a person hurriedly approached P. and stuffed a piece of paper into her hand, saying it was from one of her sons.

As soon as the defendant read the note, her eyes blurred with tears.

She immediately turned to the officers, imploring them to let her two teen sons who were waiting outside the court building enter the hall.

“I have not seen my sons for ages. I thought I could see them for a while today,” P. wailed.

However, her own and her relatives’ imploration failed to sway the security guards of the municipal People’s Court, who strictly abided by the rule allowing no entry for under-16-year-olds.

P.’s two teen sons were standing at the building gate under the scorching sun, desperate to get inside the court hall for a brief reunion with their mother.

The boys have fair complexions and clear eyes behind their glasses.

“My father took me here in the early morning. Since my mother’s arrest, I could only see her twice. I miss her badly,” said P.’s older son, 14, who is shorter than his younger brother.

Since his father told him that he could meet P. on her trial day, the boy could not wait to see his mother again, even repeatedly mumbling a rehearsal on his way to the court of what he would say to his mother.

He added that he was dying for a big hug from his mom.

However, like hundreds of other kids, he and his brother were stopped at the entrance.

The boys did not stand in a shaded area to shun the blazing sun, as they stood poised to scurry inside if the security guards got distracted for a second.

However, the guards were always around, shattering the boys’ hopes.

They quickly approached a Tuoi Tre reporter, who was leaving the court hall, to ask after their mother.

The younger boy said in his scribbled note that he missed his mother terribly and that they are both doing well at school after reminding her to take good care of herself.

Tears then welled up in the kids’ eyes.

They revealed that since their mother’s arrest, the younger brother has stayed with their paternal grandma while the older son lives with their father, who has had his hands full running his business and paying visits to their mother.

The boys are also going to new schools, as their father does not want their former classmates to learn of their mother’s capture and court hearing, which may hurt them afterward.     

“My brother and I meet each other occasionally, including the few times we were allowed to visit our mother in the detention area,” the younger boy said.

It was 12:00 pm. The two brothers patiently lingered at the entrance, despite their thirst and hunger.

They still hoped to see their mother when she was escorted from the court hall to the police truck.

The kids yelled out to their mother once they spotted her in a blue shirt next to the accompanying police officers.

In return for her sons’ long wait, the distressed mother raised her hand as a signal to them.

The reunion from afar was fleeting, just as those between myriad other kids and their defendant parents at the very entrance.

Like many other defendants, P. was acutely aware of how badly her sons need her.

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