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that nothing serious should happen to the group since they would be
treated as innocent victims of the syndicate which had smuggled them out
of Vietnam. These assurances were confirmed by the MFA in Saigon, who
said that the due processes of law would be carried out and that only
the organisers of the smuggling syndicate would incur severe penalties.
7.
One of the 118 members of the group were repatriated on 16 June.
group claimed that he had a Hong Kong birth certificate and remained in
the colony for his case to be reviewed.
8.
On the return of the group to Saigon, it emerged that one (Truong Hong) had previously been condemned to death on smuggling charges and
had given a false name in Hong Kong. The Secretary General of the MFA
said that he would be re-tried but that it was impossible to tell what
sentence he might receive if found guilty. The chance of the death
penalty was virtually nil.
9. The MFA have informed HM Ambassador Saigon that it has now emerged
that 11 of the 118 are deserters; none had been identified as such by
The
the Vietnamese authorities while they were still in Hong Kong. Chief of the National Police (General Binh) has said that the cases of
the man under sentence of death and the 11 deserters will be heard before
a military court, the others will appear before a civilian court in the
first instance.
10. Le Monde of 28 June quoted a Saigon police spokesman as saying the British had not sought any assurances before repatriation and none had
been given. We have asked the Embassy to check this report.
11.
HMG's interest in the fate of the group has been made known in
Saigon to the Chief of Police, the Minister of Justice and the Chief of
Protocol at the Palace.
In Cm from fras
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