1:.FITiraes CIA -- .1:44 -4 51 6 liar 70

THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDAY, MARCH 6. 1970

Chau, Sevtenced, Says He Will Serve /•./ - 7 3 77-0 S 1_4:7 By RALPH BLUMENTHAL spectaa to. Nation Again After Peacq, SAIGON, South , March 5—Tran Ngoc Chau, a The most valuable intelligence' National Assembly member In reply, the accused declared: he obtained from his'brother, who was sentenced to 10 years Mr. Chau said, concerned COm- Mr. Chau, a. former Buddhist at hard labor today on charges "When I walked into this munist'plans for an offensive monk, arm Eolonel, province of having been in contact with courtroom I considered my fate chief, Mayor of Danang and the Communists, said later that as having already been sealed. late in 1967 or early in I pacification leader, did mum ` he would resume his service You said that I worked for the In August, 1967, he said of his own pleading in the to his country "after peace has formation of a coalition govern- briefed Ambassador Bunker austere military courtroom. - ment, but my anti-Communist been restored." other officials for three hou At one point he said: "I am The flamboyant 46-year-old feeling has been proved. I have The embassy has declined ' served in the Vietnamese ready to accept any sentence opposition Deputy, who was comment but informed source that you have reserved." Co- still wearing bandages pry in- armed forc,,es for 23 years. I confirmed that the briefing toc4. lonel Huynh retorted, "Vic juries received in a scuffle with have fought against the Com- Place. Just how much inf or munists on the front lines. I never prepared a sentence in police ' when he was seized in tion Mr. Chau provided is advance for you." his refuge in the Assembly a have received wounds and I clear. have been awarded medals for When the courtroom, full of s Week ago, was smiling broadly Discussing the matter, spectators and newsmen, eruii:t-, and flashing "V" signs as he 'thy wounds in combat." Government prosecutor Just what service to South s M ed in laughter, Colonel Huynh was escorted out after the sen- Tran Khanh Kieu, asked:. 4,4,0„ silenced them saying: "Anyone tencing. Vietnam he performed and to what extent the Americans "Why did he infOrrn AB, who laughs in this court can Mr. Chau was reconvicted by Americans? Chau still hers be tried immediately according the same special, military court ed? in not informing •the V to emergency procedures on that sentenced him in absentia were' involved inlit remain a mystery. nainese leaders even after thr charges of creating disturb- last week to the maximum pen- Americans, who had their owif,14; ences in the court." alty, 20 years at hard labor. Mr. Chau did not deny the po4ition, chose not to, beliettk charges that on eight occasions As Mr. Chau noted before It was alleged that he had corn- ChAu's expose. Chau cord haw, the trial, there will be a sort promised national security in between 1965 and 1969 he met made the same exposé, to with his brother, Capt. Tran of family reunion in prison.' meetings with his •brother, a Preaident, to the 'r- Another brother, Tran Chau, North Vietnamese intelligence Ngoc Hien, who had been •sent Nationalational Security Coun61, a by on an intelligence Khang, has been jailed for act-. officer later convicted as .a spy. we could have saved a lot ing as a go-between for the President Nguyen Van Thieu, mission, but he asserted, that he Vietnamese Why kept senior American officials did talks between Mr. Chau and with whom Mr. Chau was once trust foreigners and' not Viet- Captain Hein. closely associated, had con- informed of his efforts to per- namese? demned the. contacts. suade his brother to defect and to get him to disclose informa- Cause Against Government tion useful toward a peace. set- The verdict, broadcast over tlement. closed-circuit television to Mr. Thieu in the National Palace, ended the most sensational po- litical trial since adopted. its present .Constitu- tion on April 1, 1967. Some opposition groups have taken up the case as a popular cause against the Government. In affirming the earlier find- ing of guilt but halving the sen- tence, the five military judges.% who are answerable to the President through the Defense Ministry, dismissed Mr. Chau's challenges to the proceedings'' constitutionality.

officers were also un-I swayed by his contention that he had met with his brother with the knowledge of Ameri- can intelligence agents and had obtained advance information about the enemy's 1968 Lunar New Year offensive that Ambassador Elliworth Bunker and other United States offi- cials chose to discount. The chief, judge, Lieut. Col. Trieu Khac Huynh, said after an hour's deliberation that Mr. Chau was "guilty of liaison with 'a person whose activities are harmful to 'national security." Trait Ngoc Chau between policemen yesterday at trial before a military court in Saigon