New trial for Vietnamese accused of restaurant slayings in Germany

Europe News

Jan 9, 2008, 10:17 GMT

Stade, Germany - Five Vietnamese men went on trial Wednesday in connection with the brutal killing of seven staff at a Chinese restaurant in Germany last year. It was the second trial for the group - three of whom are charged with murder and two with aggravated robbery. The previous hearing, which began at the end of August 2007 in the town of Stade, near Hamburg, was halted in December because of the illness of one of the judges. The original trial had made slow progress because of a dispute over witnesses and claims by defence counsel that key papers were served too late and that the judges were biased. Lawyers said the defendants had not understood translations by a team of court-paid Vietnamese interpreters, who had attended one of the hearings. Seven people were bound and slain in the attack in the nearby country town of Sittensen, after the restaurant closed late on February 4. Five staff from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong were tied up and shot along with popular local restaurant owner Danny WingHong Fan, 32, and his 28-year-old wife, both British citizens. Only their baby survived. Police say three Vietnamese entered the restaurant to steal valuables at gunpoint and may have killed the workers in panic. The other two defendants were part of the plot, police say. The Vietnamese have denied to police that they were the killers. © 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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New trial for Vietnamese accused of restaurant slayings in Germany

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