Vietnam's communist authorities demonstrated public determination to tackle a growing heroin scourge on Wednesday as a court in Hanoi sentenced eight people to die at the end of a dramatic two-week drugs trial.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the People's Court in the city center as verdicts were read in a case involving state security officials that has gripped the country for days.In addition to the death sentences, eight people were given life terms in prison and six others received terms from a suspended sentence to 20 years in jail - all for involvement in a trafficking ring that is said to have flooded Vietnam with hundreds of kilos of heroin.
"The quick investigation, early trial . . . and harsh punishment has shown the Vietnamese government's determination not to compromise in the fight against drugs," said a foreign ministry official.
"At the same time it also shows the strictness and justice of Vietnamese law," she added.
The trial is the biggest yet and most sensational to have surfaced in Vietnam. Half of those convicted were members of Vietnam's powerful security establishment, a body held in fear by some and once considered by many as untouchable.
Two police captains, including lead defendant Vu Xuan Truong, and a senior border guard were among those sentenced to face the firing squad.
Foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the trial, but sources inside said the lead defendants remained expressionless as their sentences were read out.