Chan was sentenced to life in prison and was ordered to pay VND35 million (around US$1,600) to the victim’s family by a Bac Giang court in 2004 for allegedly killing a woman named Nguyen Thi Hoan in his commune of Nghia Trung.
Chan appealed against the conviction but the sentence was upheld by the Supreme People’s Court in Hanoi.
While Chan was serving his jail sentence, his family were hunting for evidence to prove his innocence.
In 2013, the real murderer, Ly Nguyen Chung, also from Nghia Trung commune, turned himself in to the police and Chan was later acquitted of the murder charge.
At the apology meeting on April 17, a representative of Nguyen Thanh Chan requested that authorities soon compensate him for his material losses and emotional suffering.
