Vietnamese Man Admits He Helped Agents to Kidnap Ex-Executive in Berlin

Vietnamese Man Admits He Helped Agents to Kidnap Ex-Executive in Berlin
An image of Vietnamese former oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh is seen on a TV screen on state-run television VTV, Aug. 3, 2017. Reuters/Kham/File Photo
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BERLIN—A Vietnamese man has admitted that he helped his country’s secret services to kidnap a former oil executive in broad daylight from a Berlin street and smuggle him back to Vietnam, where the businessman has been jailed for life for corruption.

The confession to a German court appears to be the first time anyone involved has officially acknowledged that the Vietnamese authorities were behind the Cold War-style abduction last year which angered Berlin.