VietNamNet Bridge – Tang Quoc Binh, a Vietnamese first year student of the Russian State University of Management (GUU) was fatally stabbed near a metro station in Moscow when he was on the way home.

Tang Quoc Binh

Tang Quoc Binh, born in 1988, was the former student of Hong Quang High School in the northern province of Hai Duong. Binh did not follow higher education in Vietnam, and went to Russia studying in 2008.

Bui Thanh Toan, who is now the student of the People’s Police Academy, a close friend of Binh at primary school and a neighbour of Binh’s family, said that the family and friends were really shocked when hearing about Binh’s death and cannot believe this has happened.

According to Toan, Binh’s cousin related that on the evening of January 9 after the semester exams, Binh went to Plekhanov University to visit his friends and he was stabbed by a group of people on the way home. Binh was then discovered and taken into hospital. However, he died the next day due to the serious wounds.

Toan said that Binh was very good-natured, quiet and never liked joining quarrels or fights.

Thanh Huong, the third year student of the Academy for Journalism and Communication, the classmate of Binh at secondary school, related that before Binh left for Plekhanov University to visit friends, Huong chatted with Binh online. Binh was very happy and joyful at that time. Huong could not see anything wrong with Binh, while Binh said he would fly to Vietnam to enjoy Tet.

On January 11, 2009, in the talk with VietNamNet, the Director of the International Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Nguyen Ngoc Hung, said that the ministry has contacted the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia to hold talks with Russian authorities so that Russian authorities order the universities to strengthen measures to protect foreign students.

Hung confirmed that MOET received the information about the death of Binh on January 10 in the evening after being informed by the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia.

Hung said yesterday that the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia was coordinating with the local authorities and the Vietnamese community in Russia to take care of Binh’s funeral.

According to Hung, Binh was not the state-sponsored student, i.e he was not sent to Russia by the State.

Hung said that Binh was the second Vietnamese student killed in Russia. Another Vietnamese student, Vu Anh Tuan, was killed in 2004. After Tuan’s death, the Government of Vietnam recommended Vietnamese students in Russia not to travel on streets late at night. However, Binh was killed right in front of the Spanish Embassy in Russia at 7:00pm, Moscow time, or 11:00pm, Hanoi time.

Agencies hope that the cameras installed at the Spanish Embassy recorded the events of the case which will well serve the investigation, according to Hung.

According to the Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Training Agency under the Ministry of Education and Training, there are some several thousands of Vietnamese non-state sponsored students in Russia.

Bao Anh