~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

Year :      [2004]      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

Former Vietnam deputy minister jailed for child rape

HANOI - Vietnam's former deputy sports minister Luong Quoc Dung was sentenced to eight years in jail for raping a 13-year-old girl in an attempt to rid himself of bad luck. The Hanoi People's Court convicted the 52-year-old at a trial held behind closed doors to protect the identity of the victim.

"Dung admitted to having sex with a minor but denied the rape charge. However, he was convicted of raping the child and sentenced to eight years in prison," a court official told AFP. The maximum prison sentence for child rape is 15 years. The prosecution had asked on Thursday, the opening day of the trial, for a sentence of between nine and 10 years. Dung had held the post of vice chairman of the State Committee for Physical Training and Sports until he was dismissed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and expelled from the ruling Communist Party on March 1.

He was arrested on February 19 and charged with rape, two days after Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, who procured the teenager for him, turned herself in. Nga was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison as an accomplice to the crime, the court official said. Police say the unidentified rape victim was taken to a hotel in the Vietnamese capital on December 30 last year by her neighbour, Nga.

Nga told the court that Dung, who had deputy ministerial status, had asked her to find him a virgin because he was experiencing a run of bad luck and he believed that having sex with her would end that streak, according to the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper. Nga told the young girl that they would be going clothes shopping but she was taken to a city centre hotel, forced into a room where she was slapped and then raped by Dung, the victim told the court, according to the Tuoi Tre daily.

However, Dung's lawyers argued that she had voluntarily had sex with him and produced witnesses to back his claims, the newspaper said. The victim's aunt told the court that after the incident, Nga gave the teenager a "morning-after" contraceptive pill and around 320 dollars in cash, and told her not to tell anybody about what happened, the An Ninh Thu Do said.

She was also promised more money if Dung wanted a second meeting, state media reported before the trial. The victim, however, told her parents that day, who promptly went to the police. Allegedly, Dung subsequently arranged to pay the girl's family 68,000 dollars -- a huge sum in this impoverished country -- in return for them withdrawing the accusation. The Tuoi Tre said the prosecution did not include this allegation in their case Thursday.

Even though her parents allegedly accepted the money, police decided to proceed with the case because of the serious nature of the charges. Following Dung's arrest, the prime minister also ordered an investigation into alleged corruption in construction projects relating to last December's Southeast Asian Games, which were held in Vietnam for the first time. Dung oversaw the financing of the regional mini-Olympics, including the building of the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

Agence France Presse - October 29, 2004.