Thanh Nguyen (b. October 30, 1983 ), is an Australian from Wellington Point in Brisbane, Queensland. On April 17, 2005, he was discovered in Bali, Indonesia while attempting to import heroin into Australia as part of the Bali Nine group. Nguyen was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 15, 2006 and believed to be a financier of the plan.

On April 26, 2006, Nguyen, along with four other members of the Bali Nine group, had his sentence reduced to 20 year on appeal, yet on September 6, 2006, his sentence was upgraded to the death penalty.

Criminal trial

During his trial, he was accused of both recruiting members and financing the drug importation scheme Prosecutors recommended he receive life imprisonment, which he initially received.

Fellow defendant Michael Czugaj Thanh stated he travelled to Bali, with school friend Scott Rush, after Rush introduced him to Nguyen. Their reason for travel was that Nguyen offered them both a free holiday to Bali. When asked why he chose to travel to Bali on a paid holiday, Rush replied "Basically we got the response that he (Nguyen) didn't have anyone to come to Bali with him". Nguyen has refused to testify. Czugaj confirmed Rush's account of events as being true.

Czugaj later told Indonesian courts,

"...in all honesty, I should not have been so blind to this, this so-called holiday. But as Bali has always been a favourite destination, it made me overwhelmed with excitement and I jumped at the chance to go to Bali,"

During his final plea to judges, Nguyen said,

"I basically stand here before you to tell you that I love Indonesia and I would never intentionally damage or hurt her reputation. I only wanted to come here. If given a chance I would definitely recommend this holiday island to many friends and family. As the only and oldest son in the family I was the one who supported my four younger sisters, and I paid for the groceries and my sisters' education and school needs, so how could I possibly be the financier? The impact on my family has left them shattered and truly devastated, and our lives will never be the same again"

See also

• List of Australians in international prisons
• List of Australian criminals

References

• Lawyers seek charges to extradite Bali nine
• Rush re-enacts drug smuggling in court
• Smuggle or die, Bali Nine 'told'
• Rush testifies against Lawrence in Bali Nine trial
• Bali accused Rush tells of heroin strapping