A former Vietnamese politician unintentionally killed a teenager in a traffic accident in central Hanoi last year but was exempted from criminal prosecution, a police officer told state television, shedding light for the first time on a case that has fuelled criticism online for months.
The interview was broadcast on Monday evening, days after people began leaving flowers at the site where the accident occurred last May, in what dissident and youth groups described as an act of protest in the tightly controlled, communist-ruled country. Authorities said the accident’s exploitation was carried out by “hostile forces”.
Videos shared on social media show people in uniform preventing passers-by from leaving flowers and standing next to a tree where the accident took place.
The driver, Nguyen Sy Cuong, is a former deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the husband of a minister in the current government.
The TV interview was the first official acknowledgement of his involvement in the accident after allegations linking him to the case had circulated on social media for months.
During a recent visit to the site, reporters saw only scattered flower petals near the tree. Plain clothes officers appeared to be monitoring the area from across the street.
