Three years in prison for instigator of vandalism of business property

On the morning of May 25, at An Tay A Primary School (Binh Duong), under the witness of thousands of people, the People's Court of Ben Cat town, Binh Duong held a mobile trial of defendant Le Van Nghiem (23 years old, from Ca Mau, a worker in Ben Cat town) for disturbing public order and intentionally damaging property.

Nghiem was among hundreds of people who incited workers to vandalize a foreign company in Binh Duong on May 13.

According to the indictment, Nghiem worked as a worker at Chan Viet Joint Stock Company (An Thanh Hamlet, An Tay Commune, Ben Cat Town, Binh Duong) since July 2013.

On the evening of May 13, Nghiem went to his friend's house. On the way back, he passed by Chan Viet company and saw many people gathered, shouting and protesting China's illegal placement of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig in Vietnam's waters, so Nghiem went in to see.

At that time, there were about 200 people in a very agitated state, they shouted: "Send the Chinese back home" and knocked down the company gate. Nghiem joined the protesters and with some people ran into factory number 6 of Chan Viet company, continued to gather and incite many people to shout protests against China.

The An Tay commune militia came to disperse the crowd but was cursed by Nghiem and dragged along with others to the company gate shouting. At around 8pm, An Tay commune police chief Nguyen Van Tong and 6 teammates came to carry out their duty in their private car but were blocked by Nghiem. Thinking it was a Chinese car, he swung a flashlight and smashed the front of the car, causing more than 4 million VND in damage. Nghiem was arrested shortly afterwards.

Nghiem admitted to all his crimes and expressed remorse for what he had done. The jury sentenced him to three years in prison for “disturbing public order” and “deliberately damaging property,” although the victim did not request compensation for the damage.

At the same time, Tan Uyen Town Court, Binh Duong also held a mobile trial and sentenced defendant Chau Vinh Tuong (18 years old, worker, residing in Tan Dong Hiep ward, Tan Uyen town) to 1 year in prison for theft of property.

Tuong was identified as having taken advantage of protesters to vandalize Cao Vien Company Limited (in Tan Hiep ward, Tan Uyen town) to steal computer screens and some office equipment, with a total value of more than 5 million VND.

Tuong and Nghiem are the first to be brought to trial among hundreds of people prosecuted for taking advantage of protests to cause trouble, sabotage businesses in the province, and resist law enforcement officers.../.

According to Vietnam+