Vietnam to Release 21 Foreigners on Amnesty
Twenty-one foreigners are among 10,428 inmates to receives pardons Vietnam’s President Tran Duc Luong in the largest-ever amnesty to mark the 60th Sept. 2 National Day, an official announced Monday.
The foreigners to be freed include two Chinese, four Americans, five Cambodians, three Malaysians, four Taiwanese, one South Korean, a Laotian and a Cameroonian, said Nguyen Van Bich, deputy director of the Presidential Office at a press conference in Hanoi.
The amnesty would send home 28 ethnic minority inmates from the Central Highlands, said Deputy Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem.
The inmates were charged with a variety of offences including organizing illegal trips out of Vietnam and involving in violence against government officials on duty, said Tiem, who doubles as a member of the Central Amnesty Consultancy Council.
A total of 152 people involved in corruption and power abuse cases would also be granted amnesty, he added.
The deputy minister also said his agency had already instructed local authorities to create jobs for the released inmates in order to help them quickly integrate into their families and communities.
Over the past two years, almost 35,300 inmates have been released under amnesties.
The amnesty is to mark the September 2 declaration of independence by the late President Ho Chi Minh in 1945.
(Reported by Viet Chien – Translated by The Vinh)
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 29 August, 2005, 21:48:15 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News
