Jailed British rocker on Vietnam amnesty list
HO CHI MINH CITY - Disgraced British ex-rocker
Gary Glitter, imprisoned in Vietnam for sexually molesting two young girls, is on a list of inmates to be possibly released this month, his lawyer said on Friday.
Glitter, 62, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison during a one-day trial in March last year and subsequently lost an appeal.
Every year at major national holidays, the Vietnam President authorizes amnesty for prisoners. In two weeks time, Vietnam will ring in the Lunar New Year, or Tet, the Southeast Asian country's most important celebration.
"My client is on the list for Tet amnesty consideration and I expect to hear the final decision in a few days," Glitter's lawyer Le Thanh Kinh told Reuters in Ho Chi Minh City.
"If he is amnestied he will be released very soon, probably next week," Kinh said.
Glitter denied he molested the girls while living in a villa in the southern resort town of Vung Tau. He was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport in November 2005 while trying to leave the country.
Glitter's real name is Paul Francis Gadd. He rose to fame in the 1970s with a bouffant hairstyle, make-up, high heels and "glam rock" stage performances.
His hits included "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2)" and "I Love You Love Me Love," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "I'm the Leader of Gang (I am)," an anthem that lives on in U.S. sports stadiums.
Reuters - February 2, 2007.
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