The World : 161 Ex-Saigon Leaders Free
Vietnam said it has freed 161 former military officers and officials of the toppled U.S.-backed Saigon regime. The rest of the 1,014 the government has said it will free from re-education camps are to be released by the traditional Tet New Year on Wednesday, Radio Hanoi reported. Those released are to include 10 generals, 115 field grade officers, 25 chaplains, one Cabinet minister and one deputy Cabinet minister, the radio said. The former South Vietnamese officials were among the 100,000 prisoners taken after the fall of Saigon to Communist North Vietnam in 1975. Those in the camps were never formally charged or tried in a court of law.
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