The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on December 27 imposed imprisonment sentences ranging from 16 years to five years on 15 defendants on the charge of “conducting terrorism against the people’s administration” under Article No.84 of the Vietnam Penal Code 1999.

Nguyen Duc Sinh (front, right) is escorted by police officers.

Dang Hoang Thien (born in 1992, residing District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), got 16 years in prison for his main role in making and planting petrol bombs at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City on April 22, 2017, and his involvement in setting fire to the warehouse of Bien Hoa city police in the southern province of Dong Nai on April 8, 2017.

The instigator of the April 8 arson attack on Bien Hoa police’s warehouse, Nguyen Duc Sinh (born in 1985 in Quang Ngai), was given a 10-year sentence. He and his accomplices were also ordered to pay 1.2 billion VND in compensation to Bien Hoa police.  

Thirteen other accomplices were sentenced to between five and 14 years in prison for “conducting terrorism against the people’s administration”. 

Le Thi Thu Phuong (born in 1996, Thien’s girlfriend), took a suspended sentence of one year and six months for not denouncing the crime, with three years’ probation. 

The court concluded that the defendants were enticed by reactionary elements abroad to engage in activities against the administration and the people, such as spreading false and distorted information on social networks, participating in demonstrations, recruiting members for reactionary organisations and making weapons. 

Their acts pose serious danger to society, threaten national security and violate people’s assets and health, the court declared. 

According to the verdict, the defendants acted under the instruction of Dao Minh Quan and Pham Lisa, who led an oversea reactionary terrorist group, which used social networks to entice many people in Vietnam to set up terrorist groups planning to conduct terrorist acts and sabotage in the country. 

The investigative security agency under the Ministry of Public Security has issued wanted notice for Dao Minh Quan and Pham Lisa.-VNA