Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
During the approximately 10-minute sentencing phase, the Hanoi People's Court announced that defendant Phan Van Anh Vu was sentenced to 9 years in prison for the crime of intentionally disclosing state secrets.
After a day of closed-door proceedings, on the afternoon of July 30, the Hanoi People's Court read out the verdict publicly, identifying Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu (Vu "Nhôm", 43 years old) as the defendant.and two former police officers who committed the crime together.Intentionally disclosing state secrets,According to Article 337 of the 2015 Penal Code.
Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Mr. Phan Huu Tuan (63 years old, former lieutenant general, former deputy director general of the General Department of Intelligence, Ministry of Public Security) was sentenced to 7 years, and Nguyen Huu Bach (55 years old, former officer of the Ministry of Public Security) received a 6-year sentence.
The sentencing lasted about 10 minutes, during which the defendants' biographies and sentences were read aloud. Reporters followed the proceedings on television screens. The verdict was not publicly announced. Defendant Phan Van Anh Vu, wearing a blue-purple checkered shirt, chatted with someone next to him before the court announced the sentence.
As soon as the trial ended, the defendant Vu was escorted out through the back door to a police van.
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Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu at the Hanoi People's Court. Photo:VNA (Vietnam News Agency). |
Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu is a well-known real estate tycoon in Da Nang. On December 21, 2017, Mr. Vu was indicted by the Security Investigation Agency (Ministry of Public Security) for intentionally disclosing state secrets. On January 4, Mr. Vu was brought back to Hanoi after several days of evading an arrest warrant in Singapore with three passports.
Regarding Mr. Phan Van Anh Vu, on July 28, the Politburo determined that Lieutenant General Bui Van Thanh, Deputy Minister of Public Security, had arbitrarily signed a decision allowing Mr. Vu to participate in a delegation traveling abroad and requested a diplomatic passport for Mr. Vu, despite him not meeting the eligibility criteria.
According to the investigating agency, Mr. Vu is also a suspect in several other cases, including the case of irregularities in the buying and selling of public land and properties in Da Nang and many other localities.
Crimes of intentionally disclosing state secrets; crimes of appropriating, buying, selling, or destroying state secret objects or documents. 1. Any person who intentionally discloses state secrets, appropriates, buys, sells, or destroys state secret objects or documents, except in cases stipulated in Article 110 of this Code, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for 2-7 years. 2. Committing an offense falling under one of the following circumstances shall be punishable by imprisonment for 5-10 years: a) State secrets classified as top secret; b) Abusing one's position or authority; c) Causing harm to national defense, security, foreign relations, economy, and culture. 3. Committing an offense falling under one of the following circumstances shall be punishable by imprisonment for 10-15 years: a) Organized; b) State secrets classified as top secret; c) Committing the crime two or more times; d) Causing harm to the political system, independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity. 4. Offenders may also be fined from 10 to 100 million VND, prohibited from holding office, or prohibited from practicing a certain profession or doing a certain job for 1 to 5 years. |
