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VANCOUVER – The five men who admitted to murder conspiracy charges for their roles in a lengthy Metro Vancouver gang war will be sentenced next week.

A B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon reserved judgment for the men linked to the United Nations crime gang after she accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence lawyers on sentencing.

The submission asks for 11 to 14 years behind bars, minus credit for time served.

Yong Sung John Lee, Dilun Heng, Barzan Tilli-Choli, Karwan Ahmet Saed and Ion Kroitoru (croy-TORE’-roo) were arrested in 2009, and all five pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder earlier this week.

Kroitoru’s lawyer John Turner has tried to minimize his client’s involvement with the UN gang, saying Kroitoru was never a gang member and that the man hopes to turn his life around being released from prison.

Crown prosecutor Ralph Keefer says the five men’s guilty pleas are a significant step in addressing the gang violence that gripped the Vancouver area several years ago.

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