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

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Vietnam tries Glitter on sex charges

VUNG TAU - Disgraced "glam rocker" Gary Glitter went on trial at a People's Court in communist Vietnam on Thursday on charges of molesting two young girls. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was brought to the yellow concrete courthouse -- a Hammer and Sickle emblem above the front door -- from the prison where he has been held since he was arrested in November as he tried to leave the country.

"Innocent," the 61-year-old said when asked from a jostling crowd of reporters, cameramen and photographers how he would plead at the trial in Vung Tau, a resort town 120 km south-east of Ho Chi Minh City. Clad in black, he waved his fingers in a 'V' for victory sign as he arrived shortly after the two girls, wearing hats and face masks which left only their eyes visible, entered the courtroom.

Vietnamese officials have taken the unprecedented step of briefing reporters about the one-day closed-door hearing, in which the 1970s rock icon will come face-to-face with his accusers, girls he said he was teaching English. The verdict is due to be pronounced at 3 a.m. British time on Friday. If found guilty, Glitter is likely to be sentenced to three to seven years in jail and will have 15 days to appeal. He has already spent more than three months in a two-man cell at desolate concrete prison on the outskirts of Vung Tau, surrounded by AK-47-toting guards, mould-encrusted walls and coils of rusting razor wire.

But Glitter remained in good spirits, his lawyer said. "I think he is very relaxed," Le Thanh Kinh told Reuters on the eve of the hearing. "He told me: 'I need to look very good because there will be many journalists when I appear in court'. He also asked me to get him some black t-shirts to wear."

Long fall from grace

But he is a long way from his chart-topping days in the 1970s. Then, it was Glitter the Superstar belting out songs such as "I'm the Leader of the Gang" and "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 and 2)" in his trademark sequinned jump-suits, bouffant wigs and outrageous high-heeled boots. Now, it is Glitter the Fallen Idol, in court for a second time on charges relating to abuse of minors.

Reaping the rewards of a "high-camp" comeback in the 1990s, his career disintegrated when a computer repair shop in Britain alerted police to dozens of images of child pornography on the hard drive of his computer. He was sentenced to four months in prison in November 1999. On his release, he asked reporters to leave him alone, saying: "I have served my time." He disappeared first to Cuba, then Cambodia. Hounded out of Cambodia twice, he eventually resurfaced in neighbouring Vietnam and settled down in a beachfront villa in Vung Tau, once a haven for vacationing U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War.

By Ed Cropley - Reuters - March 2, 2006.