VietNamNet Bridge - A high school principal in the northern province of Ha Giang on Friday was sentenced to ten and half years in prison for having sex with multiple underage students. 

Sam Duc Xuong, 52, former principal of the provincial Viet Vinh and Viet Lam high schools, had paid nine students to have sex with him since July 2008. He had continuing luring under-age girls into prostitution until he was arrested this September, Vietnamnet said.

Two of the students, Nguyen Thi Hang and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, also received jail terms of six years and five years, respectively, for procuring young girls for Xuong, said the report.

According to investigators, Xuong paid Hang, who then was then his student at Viet Lam High School, VND1 million (US$56) for sex in July 2008.

The principal then asked Hang to find more students for him, police said. Xuong told Hang he would pay between VND3-4 million ($168-224) for virgins, and VND1 million for non-virgins, Vietnamnet quoted investigators as saying.

Hang procured five girls, including Thuy, and Xuong also had sex with three other schoolgirls, according to the verdict.

Despite the buzz the case has generated, the trial was brought before a closed court with no one other than the defendants, the victims and those directly involved in the trial allowed to attend, according to the newswire.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien