Vietnamese businessman between Berlin taken over

The kidnapping of Vietnamese businessman Trinh Xanan Thanh in Berlin has caused a diplomatic rift between Germany and Vietnam.

Berlin police confirmed to “Deutsche Welle” that a Vietnamese citizen is thought to have been kidnapped in the city on July 23rd, but they refused to offer more details about the case.

Following a statement in Berlin's “taz” newspaper, Thanh's lawyer, Petra Schlagenhauf, said her client had been forcibly kidnapped around 10:40 while on the way near the Berlin Centre's Tiergarten Park.

But Vietnamese media, quoting the country's Ministry of Public Security, reported on Monday that Thanh had voluntarily surrendered to Hanoi to investigators, who had been seeking it since April, reported “Deutsche Welle”, broadcast Periscopi.

The kidnapping of Vietnamese citizen Trinh Juan Thanh on German soil is an unprecedented and clear violation of German law and international law”, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Markus Eder said.

Although Vietnamese media did not mention this kidnapping, Tran Quoc Thun, a former member of the country's National Assembly, told “BBC” on Tuesday that it was “surprised” when he heard Thanh had returned to the country.

Thanh 51-year-old was a political official in Vietnam for many years before being dismissed from all posts amid corruption charges in September 2016.

In a communist country where business and politics are closely integrated, Thanh was head of state board Petro Vietnam (PVC) and held a number of leadership positions in state companies while simultaneously holding a seat in parliament./Periscopi/