[Vacets-local-dc] [Communist Vietnam: Minister raped girl for 'luck']

[Hai Tran]

Minister raped girl for 'luck'
27/10/2004 12:15  - (SA)   
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Hanoi - Vietnam's former deputy sports minister Luong Quoc Dung will stand trial on Thursday on charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in an attempt to rid himself of bad luck. 
The accused had held the post of vice chairman of the State Committee for Physical Training and Sports until he was dismissed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and expelled from the ruling Communist Party on March 1. 
Dung's trial, which will be held behind closed doors to protect the identity of the victim, is only scheduled to last one day. If convicted by the Hanoi people's court, the 52-year-old faces between seven and 15 years in prison. 
Dung, who had deputy ministerial status, was taken into police custody on February 19 and charged with rape, two days after Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, the woman accused of procuring the teenager for him, turned herself in. 
Unidentified victim 
According to police, the unidentified alleged rape victim was taken to a hotel in the Vietnamese capital on December 30 last year by her neighbour, Nga. 
Dung had asked her to find him a virgin because he was experiencing a run of bad luck and he believed that having sex with her would end that streak, state media has reported him as saying. 
Nga, 22, told the young girl that they would be shopping clothes but she was taken to a city centre hotel, forced into a room where she was slapped and then allegedly raped by Dung. 
After the alleged incident, Nga, who will also stand trial on Thursday gave the teenager a "morning-after" contraceptive pill and around $320 in cash, and told her not to tell anybody about what happened, police have said. 
Dung promises more money 
She was also promised more money if Dung wanted a second meeting. The victim, however, told her parents that day, who promptly went to the police. 
Dung subsequently arranged to pay the girl's family $68 000, a huge sum in this impoverished country, in return for them withdrawing the accusation, according to state media. 
Even though her parents allegedly accepted the money, police decided to proceed with the case because of the serious nature of the charges. 
Following Dung's arrest, the prime minister also ordered an investigation into alleged corruption in construction projects relating to last December's Southeast Asian Games, which were held in Vietnam for the first time. 
Dung oversaw the financing of the regional mini-Olympics, including the building of the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi. 
Edited by Andiswa Mesatywa



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