South Viet Nam: Unwelcome Attention

South Viet Nam's runner-up candidate, Truong Dinh Dzu, has clearly enjoyed all the attention he has received since he came in an unexpected second to the Thieu-Ky ticket. Last week Dzu received some unwelcome attention. In a Saigon criminal court, where he failed to appear but was represented by two attorneys, he was found guilty by a civilian judge on charges of writing a bad check for $8,300 and transferring $11,500 from Viet Nam to a San Francisco bank in violation of the currency laws. The first charge carried a sentence of three months in jail and an $80 fine, the second six months plus a $27,600 fine.

Dzu, who has a somewhat unsavory reputation in Saigon, was indicted for the crimes well before he became a presidential candidate. The charges were revived after he announced his candidacy, but the court put off a trial until after the elections. Still, the summons to trial so soon after Dzu's surprisingly good showing was regarded as a government attempt to cut Dzu down to size—and he quickly charged the government with persecution.

The guilty verdicts came just a day after Dzu announced the formation of a "Fighting Front for Democracy" made up of six of the losing civilian candidates, who together had polled almost as many votes as Thieu and Ky. "We do not recognize the election," proclaimed Dzu, "it was fraudulent." If the Constituent Assembly validates the election, said Dzu, then "we shall fight in an orderly manner." Dzu will likely be able to keep fighting for a long time, despite the judgments against him. He has a month to appeal the verdicts, then two more higher courts through which he may drag out further appeals.