The Police Investigation Agency, under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS), has served prosecution papers and a detention warrant to the suspected child abuser Nguyen Thanh Dung.

The suspected child abuser Nguyen Thanh Dung.

Dung, 34, was charged on the grounds of ‘acts of torture’- an offence under Article 110 of existing Penal Code.

Dung was identified as the person seen in a series of around 50 video clips using electric rods, clamping tools and tree branches, among other things, to brutally beat up Cambodian children. In one such clip, he was seen torturing and strangling a naked two-year-old toddler with a stun gun.

The video, uploaded on social media sites, has sparked public outrage, and prompted the Cambodian police to investigate and arrest three suspects - two locals and a Dutchman - for their alleged involvement. The fourth suspect was later identified as Dung by the Vietnamese police. 

Major General Ho Sy Tien, head of the ministry’s criminal police department, said Dung, who hails from the southern province of An Giang, was caught while fleeing to HCM City on December 12 after the video went viral.

Dũng allegedly claimed he was under the influence of crystal methamphetamine (commonly known as crystal meth or ice) when he committed the abuse.

The 53-year-old Dutch national arrested has been identified as Stefan Struik, CEO of Kamkav, a company with cocoa plantations in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province. 

Mondulkiri’s deputy police chief So Sovann, who had come to Viet Nam to assist with investigations, said the videos were leaked by Dung’s female cousin following her unsuccessful attempt to blackmail Struik and Dung for some VNĐ10 million ($440), the Cambodia Daily newspaper had reported yesterday.

Viet Nam and Cambodia have signed mutual legal assistance and due to the fact that Dung committed the offence in Cambodia, the two countries’ police will collaborate to pursue the case, but extradition of the suspect to Cambodia is out of the question, police said. 

VNS