Appeal court opens for 'repatriation flight' case

As many as 21 defendants filed for an appeal, including To Anh Dung, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Pham Trung Kien, former secretary of a Deputy Minister of Health; and Hoang Van Hung, former investigation officer at the Ministry of Public Security.

Before the appeal hearing, Hung, who had got a life sentence for the charge of fraudulent appropriation of assets but denied the charge, pleaded guilty and paid VND18.8 billion (US$800,000) in compensation.

On July 28, the 54 defendants in the case were handed prison terms with the highest being life imprisonment.

According to the first-instance judgment, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government ordered organising repatriation flights for overseas Vietnamese. Specific tasks were assigned to the Government Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant ministries, and some municipal and provincial People’s Committees.

The defendants had taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to commit the crimes, which had occurred at many different ministries, sectors, and localities. Most of the charges were classified as “particularly serious” and “particularly dangerous for society”.

The indictment read that under the Party and State’s policy, the arrangement of more than 1,000 flights to repatriate over 200,000 Vietnamese citizens from 62 countries and territories was a demonstration of the State’s humanitarian policy. The purpose of the flights was good, but this policy was stained by degenerate officials, eroding its reputation in the eyes of the people and the international community.