Hanoi: 29 involved in Dong Tam disturbance prosecuted

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Three of the detained rioters in Dong Tam commune of Hanoi's My Duc district (Photo: VTV)

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy on June 25 prosecuted 29 people for killing three policemen in Dong Tam commune of the city’s My Duc district.

All the prosecuted persons are residents of Hoanh and Dong Mit hamlets of Dong Tam commune. Among them, 25 face the charge of “murder” while the four remainders are accused of “resisting on-duty officers”.

According to the procuracy’s indictment, despite being well aware that the land lot at the Senh field of Dong Tam commune is used for defence purposes as confirmed by the Hanoi Inspectorate and the Government Inspectorate, in 2013, Le Dinh Kinh (born in 1963, a resident in Hoanh hamlet) and some others set up a so-called “group of consensus” with the aim of re-occupying and dividing the land lot among themselves.

They frequently incited locals to file complaints about the land management and use by the Dong Tam administration, used the social network to spread the false information that the Senh field belongs to Dong Tam commune, and called on local people to “struggle to keep the land”.

From 2017 to 2020, Kinh directed the “group of consensus” and many other people to cause a number of disturbances.

Upon learning that the Hanoi Department of Public Security coordinated with the air defence – air force service of the Ministry of National Defence to deploy personnel to protect the force building fencing walls around the Mieu Mon airfield on the Senh field, Kinh and his accomplices bought weapons with the aim of attacking the authorised force.

In early January 2020, learning that the police were about to come to Dong Tam, Kinh and many others gathered at his house on January 6, 7 and 8 to plot a fight against the police.

When the police arrived at Hoanh village in early morning on January 9, the group used hand-made weapons to attack the police force. Although the authorised force used loudspeakers to repeatedly ask them to stop such acts, the rioters refused and resisted even more fiercely, with some throwing grenades at the police.

While moving to arrest the rioters, three police officers fell into a pit near Kinh’s house. Some of the rioters poured gasoline into the pit and set fire, killing the three policemen.

As the authorised force broke into the house and found Kinh holding a grenade and calling on others to resist, they decided to shoot him dead.

Investigation results show that Le Dinh Kinh and four others were the masterminds, who both directed others to commit and directly engaged in the murder of the policemen.

However, as Kinh had died, he was not included in the case.