A representative from the Vietnamese Embassy in the US has recently paid a consular visit to Duong Van Chuong, a Vietnamese national living in the US, who was detained at the Wyatt Detention Facility on Rhode Island, Massachusetts.

The visit was made after the Embassy received a memo from the US State Department reporting the detention of Chuong and also a letter from Chuong asking for assistance.

Chuong, born in 1948, used to serve in the US-backed Saigon regime’s army. He went to the US in 1993 under the HO programme.

In December 2003, he was arrested at the headquarters of his trading company called the Asian Golden Dragon Corporation in Quincy, Boston, Massachusetts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In May 2009, he was sentenced by the US District Court of Massachusetts to 56 months imprisonment on charges of fraud concerning other people’s properties.

Chuong lodged an appeal with the court of appeal.

At the meeting with the Vietnamese Embassy official, Chuong said he was wrongly convicted. He asked the Vietnamese Embassy to have a say in the case and expressed a desire to return home./.