A court in Vietnam on Monday sentenced a former oil executive allegedly kidnapped by Vietnamese agents in Berlin to life in prison for embezzlement and economic mismanagement.

Trinh Xuan Thanh (pictured) had faced a possible death penalty sentence. The 52-year-old was among 22 executives linked to state-owned PetroVietnam on trial as part of a vigorous anti-corruption crackdown.

The court also sentenced Dinh La Thang, a former member of the country's Communist politburo, to 13 years in prison.

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Taken in Germany

Germany accuses Vietnam of kidnapping Thanh in a Berlin park in July and forcibly returning him to Vietnam to face trial. Hanoi denies the accusations.

Thanh had been accused of embezzlement and mismanaging funds as the former chairman of PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), a PetroVietnam subsidiary.

He fled Vietnam to evade the charges in 2016 and was seeking political asylum in Germany shortly before the alleged kidnapping.

Trinh Xuan Thanh being led into court by Vietnamese police

Not over yet

Thanh will return to court on Wednesday to face a separate set of embezzlement charges. Those charges purport Thanh bagged $620,000 (€510,000) in state funds and carry the death penalty.

The Vietnamese government has cracked down on corruption at PetroVietnam and the national banking sector since the election of Nguyen Phu Trong as Communist Party leader in 2016.

Critics have accused the government of pursuing politically motivated charges against close associates of former prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Read more: Berlin 'kidnapping': Nowhere to run from Vietnam's anti-corruption campaign

Watch video 05:29 Share Lawyer: Thanh trial not fair Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2qXLU Lawyer: Thanh won't get a fair trial in Vietnam

amp/jm (dpa, AP, Reuters, AFP)