No criminal charges will be filed against a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalist who was in April accused by a young woman of coercing her into unwilling sex acts, police said as they wrapped up a five-month investigation into the case.

Dang Anh Tuan, aka Anh Thoa, was accused by a female contributor working under his supervision of raping her when she slept over at his house in Ho Chi Minh City on two nights in December 2017.

The case was probed by police in the city’s Thu Duc District, who concluded on August 29 that they decided not to launch criminal proceedings against Anh Thoa as their investigation found no evidence that the journalist had a sexual encounter with the accuser.

The police’s decision was upheld by the district’s procuracy on September 12.

Rumor spread widely on social media in April that the contributor H.C.T. had denounced Tuan, who was then head of the newspaper’s television division, for sexually abusing her at his own house in Thu Duc.

The Tuoi Tre editorial board required the two people to present proof for their claims, but their accounts of the incident and evidence were so contradictory that the newspaper called on the police to look into the case.

At the same time, Tuan also filed an official request to the police to handle the libel against him.

During their probe, Thu Duc police officers worked with Tuan, T., and people with knowledge of the matter, as well as studying footage from several CCTV cameras at his house.

The police found that T. slept at Tuan’s house on December 3 and December 28, 2017, but there was no ground to determine that he had sex with her during these visits.

Officials underlined that T. reported her case in May, nearly six months after her first stay at Tuan’s house, and she was the only source of proof in the accusation.

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