US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY492

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000492 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, PGOV, SOCI, VM 
SUBJECT: NAM CAM TRIAL IN FINAL STAGES 
 
REF:  HCMC 00189 
 
1.  (U) Convening after a 10-day recess that capped a trial which 
ran from February 25 - May 24, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh 
City gathered June 4 to read the results of the case 
investigations and the verdicts for the 155 defendants in the 
trial of the underworld kingpin Truong Van Cam (a.k.a. Nam Cam). 
As expected, all 155 defendants were found guilty.  Their 
sentences will be delivered June 5 at 2:00 pm. 
 
2.  (U) Post's repeated requests to gain access to the courtroom 
or the press gallery to listen to the verdicts were denied, with 
the External Relations Office (local branch of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs) citing space limitations.  ConGenoffs were 
permitted to enter a large courtyard outside the courthouse, 
where hundreds of family members and onlookers gathered to listen 
to the proceedings, broadcast by speaker from the courtroom. 
People spoke in hushed tones, becoming still at the crucial 
moment when the verdict for their family member was read or when 
unexpected information was introduced from the case 
investigations. 
 
3.  (U) At precisely 4:00 pm on June 4, a bell rang inside the 
courtroom concluding the day's events.  After several people 
filed out of the building, a crowd of around 30 police gathered 
at the top of the steps to the courthouse, while about 30 more 
flanked the perimeter fences keeping the crowds back and the 
parking area clear.  A parade of trucks and armored vehicles, 
escorted by roughly 40 traffic police and numerous riot police, 
arrived to take the defendants back to prison.  The 155 prisoners 
emerged, dressed in white and green striped uniforms, each with 
an attendant police officer, and descended the courthouse steps 
to the vehicles.  Members of the crowd called out to their 
parents, siblings and children.  Nam Cam emerged, gaunt, gray- 
haired, but smiling, to shouts and applause from the crowd, which 
accorded him celebrity status.  Slowly the trucks started up, 
turned on their sirens, and carried their cargo away. 
 
4.  (SBU) Circulating among the members of the crowd and 
listening to the proceedings, ConGenoffs perceived mixed feelings 
about the trial and its outcome.  On the one hand, the trial 
received broad local and some international media coverage, and 
the proceedings were broadcast to the public in the courtyard and 
will be televised during the reading of the sentences tomorrow. 
One young lawyer said that the case gave him new hope for the 
future of law and litigation in Vietnam.  For the first time, he 
explained, the defense attorneys for the defendants in this case 
were allowed to meet their clients prior to the trial, had access 
to the statements that were collected during the case 
investigations, and were able to present arguments in court that 
were critical of the government's handling of the case and its 
interpretation of the law. 
 
5.  (SBU) On the other hand, during a case investigation that was 
read today, the court said it had to consider the patriotic 
revolutionary past of the defendant's father as bearing weight in 
determining the defendant's sentence.  Local newspapers also ran 
several articles criticizing the defense attorneys for saying the 
government had used illegal methods to conduct their 
investigations. (Note: The Hanoi Bar Association reportedly spoke 
out to defend these attorneys. End note.)  Finally, the verdicts 
read by the court cited only the information revealed in the 
investigation prior to the trial, not the arguments or facts put 
forward during the trial by the defense attorneys. 
 
6.  (SBU) There is general agreement that the trial is important, 
but mixed feelings about its wider implications for fighting 
corruption.  One spectator, who lives in Nam Cam's neighborhood, 
said he had considered him a "humanitarian," helping poor people 
by providing coffins for their deceased relatives.  But he also 
said that when he learned of the horrible things that Nam Cam had 
done, he wanted to see justice served.  Another spectator said he 
came to the courthouse to hear the verdict and sentence because 
he didn't trust what might be printed in the newspapers.  Several 
members of the crowd echoed this sentiment, adding they wanted to 
be there at this moment in history, when justice was served in 
Vietnam and even policemen and government officials were called 
to account.  ConGenoffs will report on the trial in greater 
detail after its conclusion. 
YAMAUCHI