Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has just released an official statement about the Triều Đại Việt (Vietnamese Dynasty) group, saying that this is a “terrorist” organization from abroad.
Accordingly, the ministry said that this organization was originally called the “Provisional National Government of Vietnam” established in January 2018, with headquarters in Canada.
The leaders of this organization include Ngo Van Hoang Hung, born in Tien Giang, Canadian nationality, calling himself “the commander-in-chief of the Vietnamese Dynasty,” Tran Thanh Dinh, born in Nam Dinh, German nationality, proclaims himself “deputy prime minister,” Ngo Manh Cuong, born in Ho Chi Minh City, French nationality, proclaimed himself “General Director of Special Forces,” and Huynh Thanh Hoang, an American citizen, “a spokesman for the Vietnamese Dynasty.”
The Vietnamese Dynasty is said to have sent tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of millions of Vietnamese Dong to people in Vietnam to buy weapons, make bombs and mines, sew flags, print flyers, reactionary slogans, the ministry said.
According to the ministry’s statement, the Vietnamese Dynasty organization operates under the motto “Burning all,” “Kill all,” “Destroying,” “Robbing all,” providing money support and a direct number of domestic establishments to carry out terrorist and sabotage activities, and inciting people to go to the streets to protest and riot to rob the government.
The ministry also warned that those participating in this organization or “entice” others to join, receive funding from the Vietnamese Dynasty “will be punished according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.”
The BBC contacted on a Facebook page called the Provisional National Government of Vietnam but has not yet received a reply.
During the trial of 20 members of the Vietnamese Dynasty in September 2020, Reuters news agency also said that it was impossible to contact this organization to ask for comment on the case.
Trial of 20 members of the Vietnamese Dynasty
At the end of September 2020, Vietnam held the first-instance hearing against 20 people believed to be members of the Vietnamese Dynasty group.
The trial lasted 2 days, ended September 22 at noon, sentenced to 200 years in prison for 20 defendants.
The person who suffered the heaviest sentence was Mr. Nguyen Khanh (born in 1964 in Binh Duong), 24 years in prison and 5 years house arrest, and had to compensate a total of more than VND200 million ($8,600). Mr. Khanh was convicted of two charges: “Terrorism against the people’s administration” and “Illegally manufacturing, storing and trading explosives.”
The other defendants received sentences ranging from 2 years to 18 years in prison.
The youngest of the 20 defendants was born in 1993, the oldest was born in 1952. Two of these are from the S’Tieng ethnic minority. The defendants from many different provinces such as Tien Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Nghe An, Dak Nong, Thanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Binh Duong, mainly work as freelance workers.
The indictment said that the 20 defendants built homemade bombs and detonated them at three different locations in Vietnam, including the Hau Giang province police headquarters, the police headquarters of Ward 12, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, and at a power pole in Kien Giang.
The explosions did not cause casualties, but the case at the police headquarters of Ward 12 left two people slightly injured, with a loss of more than VND400 million.
In court, Mr. Khanh said that due to his family’s difficulties, he received money to take care of his family, but he did not have any intention to oppose the state.
Speaking to the BBC after the trial, lawyer Nguyen Van Tham, the free defender of 2 of the 20 defendants, told BBC News Vietnamese that “the court went to heartless the matter, pointing out what was wrong of the accused,” but “the sentences were too heavy,” giving them no opportunity to repent.
Vietnam’s state-controlled media reported that the Vietnamese Dynasty often posted live streams on social networks “to propagate, defame the Party and the state, lashed out at the socialist regime, inducing and directing the purchase of explosives, manufacturing explosives, causing explosions at headquarters of state agencies, police … ”
The ministry’s statement about the Vietnamese Dynasty comes as Vietnam is intensifying its suppression of dissident voices ahead of the upcoming national party congress later this month.
The latest case is the trial of three activists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le Minh Tuan on January 5 with “Making, storing, distributing or propagating information, documents and items to against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
Source: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-55513273
