Trial of Vietnamese for restaurant slaying under way

Sep 11, 2007, 12:21 GMT

Stade, Germany - After preliminary skirmishing with defence lawyers, a German court began Tuesday the main part of the trial of five Vietnamese men for robbing and murdering seven staff at a Chinese restaurant.

The reading of the indictment formally launched the trial, which had been delayed by defence motions.

A previous hearing had come to nothing when defence counsel claimed key papers were served too late and the judges were biased. The court overruled the objections.

The court in the town of Stade, near Hamburg, rejected a new challenge Tuesday that alleged bias by one of the Vietnamese interpreters helping the accused.

Lawyers also said the defendants had not understood the translations by the team of court-paid Vietnamese interpreters who had attended last month's hearing. The judge replied that the trial would proceed.

Seven people were tied up and killed in the attack 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 Wing Hong Fan, 32, and his 28-year-old wife, both British citizens. Only their baby survived.

It was one of the bloodiest armed robberies in Germany for half a century.

Police say three Vietnamese entered the restaurant in the country town of Sittensen to steal valuables at gunpoint and may have killed the workers in a panic. The other two defendants were part of the plot, police say.

The defendants have denied to police that they were the killers and the prosecution is to mainly bring forensic scientific evidence gathered at the scene of the crime.