12 jailed for damaging foreign firms during anti-China riot

12 jailed for damaging foreign firms during anti-China riot

The defendants at the trial in DOngNai Province on September 23, 2014. Photo: Le Lam

A Dong Nai court has sentenced a dozen people to between 10 and 16 months for looting and vandalizing foreign companies during an anti-China riot last May.

The Nhon Trach District People’s Court on Tuesday convicted the defendants of “causing public nuisance.”

Cao Huu Tho, 33, received the heaviest punishment of 16 months. Others were sentenced to between 10-14 months.

According to the indictment, many workers in Dong Nai joined a demonstration on May 13, 2014 to protest China’s illegal placement of a giant mobile oil rig in Vietnamese waters earlier of the month.

Tho and Vo Van Phuong, who got 14 months at the trial, pushed down the gate and hurled stones at the guard station of the CBS Company at the Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Park.

The duo continued to follow the mob to the Texhong Textile Company where they and ten other convicted defendants vandalized company property.

During the riot, Bui Van Quyet, who was sentenced to ten months on Tuesday, incited others to damage property at a nearby company. He and his accomplices gathered at the police station to insult the police for seizing his motorbike.

During the trial, all of the defendants pleaded guilty, saying their offense was due to a lack of legal awareness.

The trial was the most recent case related to the May riots that broke out in several provinces following China’s incursion into Vietnamese waters.

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