Vietnam sentences brothers to death after three policemen killed in Dong Tam land rights clashes

A Vietnamese court sentenced two brothers to death and handed prison terms or probation to 27 others on Monday, for their roles in the high-profile killings of three policemen in a clash over land rights, the security ministry and a lawyer said.

Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc were charged with murder and resisting law enforcement before their tightly guarded trial. Twenty-seven others received punishments ranging from probation to 16 years or life imprisonment.

The brothers’ father, Le Dinh Kinh, 83, was shot dead by police during the January clash at Dong Tam, a small rice-farming community next to a military airbase, where authorities attempted to build a wall that the villagers said encroached on their land.

Land disputes are a long-standing issue in Vietnam, where rows over who has the legal right to build on land, most of which the state owns, can often spill into protests.

The Dong Tam dispute has yet to be resolved. It came to a head on January 8, when police shot and killed Kinh, a village elder and retired local official. Villagers said police raided the village and killed Kinh in his bedroom.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said the three policemen were burned to death by villagers armed with hand grenades, petrol bombs, knives and bricks in a pre-planned attack.