The thugs that attacked reporters, including one from Thanh Nien, who were covering a betting scandal that involved senior officials will be brought to justice, Hanoi police told Thanh Nien Sunday.
The police visited Thanh Nien newspaper in Hanoi Sunday after one of its reporters was assaulted Thursday taking pictures of a state official arrested in connection with a multi-million dollar scandal.
At the newsroom, police asked Thanh Nien to provide them with photographs of the thugs.
The reporter was trying to get a shot of Nguyen Mau Thon, suspected of bribery to cover up the scandal, when a big man elbowed him in the stomach and another shoved his head, forcing him to fall on his face.
Another reporter from a different newspaper was also attacked the same night.
Thon was arrested for allegedly bribing officials to cover the tracks of Bui Tien Dung, director of the transport ministry’s Project Management Unit 18 (PMU18) who was taken into custody in late January for betting millions of dollars on international football games with money alleged to have been gained from embezzling state funds.
Police told Thanh Nien they would deploy forces around police stations where several notable persons are to be questioned today (Monday), including the deputy transport minister.
The ruffians, apparently hired to protect the accused from media spotlight, had brazenly attacked several reporters right in front of police stations as they tried to access the accused being questioned in the massive corruption case.
Dark power’
"It feels like journalists covering this case are in great danger," said T.N.K., the assaulted reporter of the Doi Song - Phap Luat newspaper.
K. said he had been assaulted twice while covering the case, with one instance involving a punch in the face at almost the same time as the assault that took place on the Thanh Nien reporter.
Another thug had "wrenched away [K’s] camera and thrust [his] head downwards" while K. was taking pictures of Vu Manh Tien, PMU 18’s administration deputy head, several days earlier, the reporter said.
Several newspapers also reported incidents of brazen abuse and assault two weeks ago, but for some reason the police did not take appropriate measures to prevent it, emboldening the thugs, Tien Thanh, vice editor-in-chief of the Doi song - Phap Luat said.
The result was the culmination of repeat assaults that occurred on Thursday, Thanh said, suggesting a dark power’ was behind the incidents hiring thugs to intimidate and frustrate journalists covering the case.
Nguyen Ngoc Nam, vice editor-in-chief of the Doi song - Phap Luat, called on police to establish the most obvious an investigation into the relation between the questioned officials and the thugs.
Reported by Nguyen Binh, Thanh Phong Translated by Hoang Bao
