Freed Dane stranded in Vietnam
Danish businessman is stranded in Vietnam without his passport after being freed from prison on Friday.
Danish businessman Kim Brix Andersen cannot leave Vietnam despite his release from prison, as he has not received his passport. Denmark´s ambassador was to meet with Vietnam´s Foreign Ministry on Monday to discuss Andersen´s case, after protesting his treatment on Friday.
“The positive thing is that police have given his passport to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry,” said Niels Thestrup, Andersen’s attorney. “Considering the attention the case has received in Denmark from those at a high political level, it should be clear to the Vietnamese that they have nothing to gain by not making a decision on this. ” Without his passport, Andersen will not be able to leave Vietnam. Instead, he received documentation that he was staying legally in Vietnam, so he could book a hotel room, the Danish Foreign Ministry said.
Andersen was arrested in October 2003, but sat in isolation for over a year before he was charged with having cheated Danish and foreign investors out of DKK 10 million in relation to a purchase of a Vietnamese rock quarry. A panel of judges decided on Thursday morning to send the case back to the police for further investigation. The judges ordered the release of Andersen, who was freed on Friday.
The Copenhagen Post - January 24, 2005
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