Vietnam Court Sentences Anti-corruption Activist to 4 and ½ Years in Jail for Bribery

By KTT & HK, March 28, 2017

After a four-day hearing, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on March 27 afternoon sentenced Tran Minh Loi, a well-known anti-corruption activist, to four and a half years in jail on charges of giving bribes, local media reported.

The jury concluded that the bribes allegedly given by Loi and other defendants, namely Nguyen Xuan An and Huynh Kim Cao Tri, in two separate cases were serious offenses leading to negative public opinions in the long term and affecting the strictness of the law.

According to the jury, Loi himself gave bribes at Agribank Dak Lak and incited other defendants to bribe the police in Dak Mil district – behavior that should be severely punished.

The jury also turned down defenses from Loi’s lawyers, six of whom insisted that Loi was innocent.

Lawyer Le Xuan Anh Phu pointed out that Loi helped local people collect evidence in corruption cases, including bribe solicitation, activities whose purpose is positive and whose means are not harmful to society.

The lawyers all insisted that sentencing Loi to a jai term would discourage people from fighting against corruption in the future, the Tien Phong newspaper said.

Lighter jail terms were given to six other defendants.

Additional reading: Vietnam Jails Online Graft Whistleblower for Bribery