The Court of Appeal in Malaysia has reinstated the four-year jail term for Vietnamese national Nguyen Van Tien, who was convicted of possessing 54 parts of a protected leopard species without a permit.

The three-member bench, in a unanimous decision, overturned the Temerloh High Court's earlier ruling that had reduced Nguyen's sentence to two years. Justice Hashim Hamzah emphasized that the judiciary takes wildlife-related offenses seriously, leading to the restoration of the original four-year imprisonment, effective from Nguyen's arrest on December 12, 2023. The RM300,000 fine (in default of 12 months' imprisonment) remains unchanged.

The prosecution argued that the reduced sentence would portray Malaysia as lenient on transboundary wildlife crimes, stressing the need for a stern custodial sentence due to the harm to the environment and Malaysian law's sovereignty. Nguyen, representing himself, claimed he was unaware of Malaysian laws, received the leopard parts from acquaintances to take home, and pleaded for the two-year sentence to be maintained so he could return to support his family in Vietnam.