The People’s Court of Thu Duc district in Ho Chi Minh City on July 4 sent nine rioters to jail on charges of disturbing public order and destroying businesses’ property during local workers’ demonstrations against China’s illegal actions in Vietnam’s waters.

It gave a nine-month imprisonment sentence to Nguyen Van Mai, 26, Pham Thanh Tung, 29 and Nguyen Duy Phuong, 30, each.

Meanwhile, it ordered Le Hoang Chau, Nguyen Tan Hung, Le Trong Hieu, Pham Thanh Tan, Huynh Ngoc Hieng and Le Van Huy, aged 20 to 29 years, to serve four months in jail, each.

According to the indictment, the suspects took advantage of the rallies protesting China’s illegal placement of its Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

On May 13-14, they joined others in demolishing assets of several foreign-invested enterprises in the Linh Trung 2 Export Processing Zone, costing them around 24 million VND (1,122 USD).

The guys were also found guilty of resisting local on-duty police and damaging their vehicles.

Further investigation are being carried out into other extremists involved in the disorders and those destroying assets of firms based in the zone.-VNA