The suspects, who had received orders from the organization’s headquarters in the U.S. to spread anti-state propaganda and incite protests in Vietnam, will appear in court from July 16-19.

According to the suspects’ indictments, they are members of the so-called ‘Provisional National Government of Vietnam’ (PNGV), which was founded in 1990 in the U.S. by former soldiers and refugees from the now-defunct Republic of Vietnam (ROV) regime.

They had been promised high-ranking positions in the future ‘government’ the group looks to install in Vietnam to conduct reactionary activities in the country.

Dao Minh Quan, a U.S. national and former ROV solider, was installed as their ‘prime minister’ and head of the ‘New Vietnamese Democracy’ party that works to overthrow the Vietnamese government.

U.S. national Pham Anh Dao, aka Pham Lisa, was named Quan’s second-in-command.

On June 6, 2009, Quan published the organization’s ‘provisional constitution’, which states that its political goal is to remove the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam through armed violence.

The wanted orders for Dao Minh Quan and Pham Anh Dao, aka Pham Lisa, issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security. Photo: Ministry of Public Security

With its headquarters in Orange County, California and a web of peripheral bodies in Vietnam and other countries, the organization has recruited dozens of members who are promoted to such so-called ranks as ‘army general’, ‘defense minister’, ‘provincial chairman’ and ‘national strategic commander’.

Since 2013, the group has created multiple websites, blogs and email addresses to spread false and distorted information about the policies of the Vietnamese Party and government.

In February 2017, they planted two of their members, Phan Angel and Nguyen James Han, into Vietnam to recruit follower and carry out plots to cause public disruption.

While most of their plans were discovered and prevented by Vietnamese authorities, they also managed to pull off some ‘acts of terror’ including the bombing at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport and setting fire to a police parking lot housing impounded vehicles in April last year.

In December 2017, a court in the southern metropolis handed 15 members of the group a combined 128 years behind bars for their ‘terrorist acts’.

Vietnamese police have also issued wanted orders for PNGV leaders Dao Minh Quan and Pham Anh Dao for ‘acts of terror against the people’s government’.

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