PERSONS/ENTITIES:
MIANI
MAJOR DANG SY

DATES:
Jan. 1964

CATEGORIES:
DIEM

OCCURRENCE:
At the trial of Dang Sy by the Khanh regime that succeeded that of the coup leaders temporary or provisional government, Khanh's prosecutor insisted that the deaths had been caused by American-supplied grenades of the type known as MKIII whose use had been ordered by Dang Sy, and the conviction by the military court was that the 8 deaths were caused by these concussion grenades. Higgins argues in her book that this conviction is contrary to the Pentagon's assessments of the MKIII grenade which found that at worst the effects of such a grenade are non-fatal. Nor does such a grenade have sufficient force to decapitate or mutilate persons, let alone bring down the ceilings, doors, and windows that were adjacent to the veranda of the radio station. (95-96) Higgins also states that: "The conviction of Major Dang Sy certainly throws no light on the matter one way or another. The trial was clearly rigged from the start." (96-97)

SOURCE:
Our Viet Nam Nightmare, Higgins, Harper and Row,
1965

STAFF:
Dawson, R.

DATE:
July 2, 1975