Le Cong Dinh, who was working for the Le Cong Dinh law firm in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, was taken into custody Saturday afternoon at his office, police said.
Dinh, the former deputy head of the HCMC Bar Association, did not resist the arrest, according to police reports.
Dinh had connived with overseas subversives to publish documents distorting the socio-economic policies of the Vietnamese government, said Major-general Hoang Cong Tu, head of the Investigation Agency at the Ministry of Public Security.
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HIGH-PROFILE MAN
Dinh, 41, got a law degree from Tulane University in the US in 2000.
He became known for defending Vietnamese catfish firms in an antidumping lawsuit filed by the US Catfish Farmers of America several years ago.
He married Miss Vietnam 1998 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Khanh in 2004. |
Tu, who was chairing a press briefing Saturday over the arrest, said Dinh and his accomplices had also libeled Vietnam’s top leaders, particularly Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in published documents.
The arrest of Dinh had taken place in accordance with the law, Tu said.
The police combed Dinh’s office and other relevant places late Saturday and confiscated several documents, investigators said.
Article 88 of the Vietnam Criminal Code stipulates that those convicted of spreading propaganda against the state could be jailed for three to 20 years depending on the seriousness of the crime.
Pulling the strings
Since 2006, Dinh had communicated with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) websites while also writing to websites set up by overseas subversive organizations like “Phong Trao Dan Chu Viet Nam” (Vietnam Democracy Movement), “Viet Tan” (Vietnam Reform), “Chan Troi Moi” (New Horizon), “Thong Luan” (Thorough Discussion), or “Tu Do Dan Chu” (Democratic Freedom), the police said.
He sent documents that contained distorted information on the Vietnamese government and its leaders, said investigators.
Dinh was also a key member of a US-based subversive group led by Nguyen Sy Binh.
In March, Dinh went to Phuket in Thailand to meet with Binh and Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, another group member, to plan an overthrow of the Vietnamese government in 2010, according to police reports.
Dinh and several other subversives had written a document they called the “New Constitution” to replace the current constitution of Vietnam, the police said.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, general director of the HCMC-based One Connection Internet (OCI) Joint Stock Company, was arrested on May 24 for spreading propaganda against the state and illegally providing phone-to-phone services to Vietnam from abroad.
Dinh also had close links with the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform) Party, a US-based antigovernment group busted in Vietnam in 2007, according to investigators.
Subversive advocate
Police said Dinh had capitalized on his role as a lawyer to carry out his reactionary plot.
By defending several subversives like Nguyen Quoc Quan, Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thi Cong Nhan, or Nguyen Van Hai, who had been expelled from Vietnam or jailed for spreading propaganda against the state, Dinh had conveyed distorted information about the constitution and law of Vietnam, the police said.
Reported by Le Nga – Minh Nam – Thai Uyen |
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