Thai death row convict in Vietnam receives visit from Thai diplomat
Play
The Thai consulate general in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, on Tuesday visited a 23-year-old student who has been convicted to death for drug trafficking, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Damrong Kraikruan said.
On June 26, Preeyanuch Phuttharaksa, a Thai college student from Bangkok, was sentenced to death by a Vietnamese court after being arrested at Saigon airport last October for trying to smuggle 3,000 grams of methaphetamine hidden in her luggage from Benin, West Africa to Vietnam.
She confessed that she had been hired for Bt50,000 by a Nigerian drug gang to bring the drugs into Vietnam.
Damrong said the visit was made after the diplomat was granted permission by the Vietnamese side for the first time following the court’s verdict. Under Vietnamese laws, a convicted prisoner can only be visited 30 days after the verdict; the Thai side was allowed diplomatic leniency in this particular case.
Preeyanuch was informed that her parents would like her to appeal. Damrong added that she would have the final say on whether to appeal or not.
If she decided to appeal, the process would take several months and if the Supreme Court upholds the death sentence, she could still petition the Vietnamese president for mercy.
