Portrait of General Lê Văn Dũng during his lifetime. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will hold a State funeral for Lê Văn Dũng, a senior military leader and former member of the Communist Party leadership, who died on January 9 at the age of 81, State authorities announced.

Dũng, a four-star general and former chief of the General Staff of the People’s Army of Việt Nam, died at his home after a prolonged illness. Despite extensive medical treatment, he passed away at 3.40pm local time.

The funeral will be organised with state honours following a joint decision by Việt Nam’s top political institutions, including the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly, the President, the Government and the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

Born in December 1945 in what was then Bến Tre Province in southern Việt Nam, Dũng joined the armed forces in 1963 and became a member of the Communist Party two years later.

He rose through the ranks during decades of military service, holding a range of command and political positions across army units and military regions.

He served as commander of Army Corps 4 and later Military Region 7, which covers southern Việt Nam, before being appointed chief of the General Staff in 1998.

He subsequently became Deputy Minister of National Defence and Director of the army’s General Political Department, one of the military’s most influential bodies.

Alongside his military roles, Dũng held senior political positions.

He was a member of the Communist Party Central Committee for three consecutive terms and served on the Party Secretariat in the early 2000s. He was also elected to Việt Nam’s National Assembly for two terms.

Dũng was promoted to the rank of general in 2007 and retired from public service in 2011. Over the course of his career, he received several of Việt Nam’s highest state honours, including the Hồ Chí Minh Order and the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

A state funeral committee headed by a senior Politburo member has been established to oversee the arrangements.

His body will lie in state at the National Funeral Hall in HCM City, with public visitation scheduled for January 14. A memorial service will follow later that morning, and burial will take place the same day at his family residence in Vĩnh Long Province. — VNS