HCM City (VNA) – The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on May 13 handed down sentences from five to nine months imprisonment to three defendants on charges of terrorism under Article 3, Clause 84 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
The three defendants include Vietnamese-American Nguyen Quoc Quan, 55, who was sentenced to six months in jail. Quan will be expelled from Vietnam after his prison term ends.
His accomplice Nguyen Hai (alias Khunmi Somsak and Nguyen Quang Phuc), 57, a Vietnamese national residing in Thailand was sentenced to nine months imprisonment plus three years under house arrest.
The court also handed down a five-month, 26-day imprisonment to Nguyen The Vu, 31, a resident of Ho Chi Minh City ’s district 11. Vu was released at the court because he had completed his jail term. However, Vu will be kept under house arrest for one year.
According to the jury, the three defendants made sincere declarations and expressed their repentance over their wrong acts. Nguyen Quoc Quan had committed to run and raise funds for the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform) terrorist group and entered Vietnam to carry out its terrorist plot.
According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the Viet Tan terrorist group has been in exile in foreign countries for many years and has found all ways to bring people, means and weapons into Vietnam from abroad to carry out terrorism acts in order to jeopardise the people’s power and interior and exterior security, infringe people’s life and cause harm to the security of the State.
To carry out its terrorist plot in Vietnam, Nguyen Quoc Quan, who held an important position in the Viet Tan terrorist group, and his accomplices implemented a plot called “Crossing the River” in August 2007 to build a terrorism network of Viet Tan in Vietnam and distribute leaflets to incite people to cause social disturbances, oppose the State, and threaten the State’s security.
In November 2007, Quan used fake identity card under the name of Ly Seng for illegal entry into Vietnam to instruct Nguyen Hai (the only one left from a reactionary group of Hoang Co Minh, who penetrated Vietnam for four times since March 2007), Vietnamese-French Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, Vietnamese-American Truong Leon, Nguyen The Vu and other accomplices to prepare for distributing Viet Tan’s leaflets.
The Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security detected, urgently searched and arrested them when they were preparing to distribute 6,750 leaflets on November 17, 2007.
In December 2007, the Ministry of Public Security ordered the expelling of two members of the Viet Tan terrorist group: Nguyen Thi Thanh Van and Truong Leon due to their sincere declarations and their letters begging for leniency.-Enditem
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