A former Vietnamese vice sports minister was sentenced Friday to eight years in jail for raping a 13-year-old girl in one of the country's most high-profile trials ever held, a court official said.

Luong Quoc Dung, 52, was convicted and sentenced in Hanoi People's Court after the trial, which lasted a day and a half. He assaulted the girl in a hotel room in December 2003 to reportedly try to rid himself of a bad luck streak by having sex with a virgin.

His former mistress, Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, was sentenced to seven years in jail on the same charge for luring the girl to the hotel in exchange for 1,000 US dollars.

The proceedings were held behind closed doors to spare the child embarrassment, but the case was closely followed by the Vietnamese media.

Source: Xinhua