28 June 2003 :

A Vietnamese court turned down an appeal against execution lodged by two men sentenced to death for murdering a student in October 1999, state media reported. The People's Supreme Court in the southern hub of Ho Chi Minh city upheld the death sentences in a one-day trial, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said. Tong Thanh Dat and Duong Thanh Hung were found guilty of beating to death Nguyen Van Dung, a student they thought was a member of a rival gang. After torturing Dung, the pair and their accomplices took the victim in a car and marched him around the city before letting him die in a park. Eleven other members of the gang were sentenced to between 18 months and five years.