Germany indicts suspect in kidnapping of Vietnamese oil exec

BERLIN – German prosecutors say they have indicted a 47-year-old Vietnamese man on suspicion of espionage and involvement in the kidnap a former Vietnamese oil executive in Berlin last year.

Federal prosecutors accuse the suspect, identified only as Long N. H., of assisting in the kidnap of Trinh Xuan Thanh and a woman accompanying him at the behest of Vietnamese authorities.

The pair were snatched off the street, bundled into a van and taken to Vietnam in July. Thanh, the former chairman of PetroVietnam’s construction arm, was given two life sentences in Vietnam earlier this year for embezzlement.

Vietnam denied abducting Thanh, who had applied for asylum in Germany, claiming he returned voluntarily. But Germany accused Vietnam of breaking international law and kicked out the country’s intelligence attache. N.H. was extradited from Prague in August.