Hanoi – German accusations that Vietnamese operatives had kidnapped a Former Vietnamese Communist Official in Berlin are a “pity,’’ a Vietnamese Government spokesperson said on Thursday.
Trinh Xuan Thanh who the German Federal Foreign Office maintains was abducted in July in Berlin by Vietnamese agents was arrested on Monday after turning himself in to Vietnamese police in Hanoi, Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Le Thi Thu Hang, said.
“I feel it is a great pity that the Federal Foreign Office made such an announcement,’’ said Hang at a press conference in Hanoi.
“Mr Trinh Xuan Thanh presented himself to the authorities of Vietnam, and presently the Vietnamese authorities are investigating,’’ she added.
Hang added that Vietnam “attaches great importance’’ to its relationship with Germany.
The Federal Foreign Office said in a statement that there were “no reasonable grounds to doubt’’ that Vietnamese operatives abducted Tranh in July Berlin.
It declared that the embassy’s intelligence attache persona non grata with 48 hours to leave Germany.
“The abduction of Vietnamese citizen Trinh Xuan Thanh on German territory is an unprecedented and blatant violation of German and international law,’’ the statement said.
Thanh and his deputies had been charged with “violating economic management regulations’’ during his tenure as chairman of the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), a subsidiary of state energy group PetroVietnam, leading to a loss of nearly 150 million dollars. (NAN)