Vietnam sentences journalists over state secrets
HANOI - Communist Vietnam has given non-custodial sentences to two magazine
journalists and two Trade Ministry officials found guilty of trading secret state documents, state media
reported at the weekend.
Hoang Van Tan, a reporter on the state-controlled magazine Vietnam Economic News, was
recently found guilty of trading secret documents he bought from Trade Ministry officials Tran Manh Hien
and Do Quyet Thang, Sunday's Saigon Giai Phong (Liberation) newspaper said.
The report said that in the 1996 case, the documents were also received by a Vietnam Economic
News reporter in Ho Chi Minh City, Tra Tran Hong Ha, who sold them on to clients with their "secret"
stamps removed.
The documents included government letters covering trade negotiations with the United States and
on rice export quotas, the paper said.
Tan received a 24-month suspended jail term and Hien and Ha 18 months suspended terms. Do
Quyet Thang was sentenced to two years re-education without detention.
Reuters - October 17, 2000.
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