Press review after the judgement

Vietnamese dissidents' trial a mockery of justice - Annesty International
The prosecution gave no evidence to support the indictment, and the judges deliberated for only 15 minutes before returning with the judgment, which took 45 minutes to read and clearly had been prepared in advance of the hearing.

Family members, diplomats and journalists observed the trial from an adjacent room through a video link. Many had been turned away, including several family members of Tran Huynh Duy Thuc.

The trial also shows the urgent need to reform the serious short-comings of the 1999 Penal Code, the vague provisions of which criminalize peaceful dissent, contrary to Viet Nam’s obligations under international law.

Court sentences four netizens and pro-democracy activists to a total of 33 years in jail - Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the long jail sentences imposed on a total of seven bloggers, cyber-dissidents and human rights activists in rushed sham trials in the past two days. Sentences totalling 33 years in prison were passed on four dissidents who were tried by a court in Ho Chi Minh City today.

Vietnam dissident trial criticised - Reuters
Trung, 26, who started a pro-democracy youth group and, like the others, was a member of the Democratic Party, admitted to breaking the law and expressed remorse, saying his family and friends had been affected.

Dissidents Get Stiff Sentences - RFA

Foreign diplomats attending the trial protested the verdicts, and human rights groups were quick to condemn the proceedings.

Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt-Hansen, the sole European ambassador permitted to attend, said the defendants had been sentenced for actions “which in a democracy are not unlawful.”

The United States condemned the arrests and repeated its concern after the verdict.

“We would like to reiterate our deep concern over the arrest and conviction of persons for the peaceful expression of their beliefs, political or otherwise, by the government of Vietnam,” said Ken Fairfax, U.S. consul general in Ho Chi Minh City.

“There are serious concerns about the whole process,” Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen told reporters.

Vietnam: Repression Intensifies Prior to Party Congress - HRW

"With its treatment of peaceful critics, the Vietnamese government seems determined to stand out as one of the most repressive countries in Asia," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "We'd be thrilled if the Vietnamese government proved us wrong, but there are no signs that it will reverse its increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent." In the lead-up to a key Vietnamese Communist Party congress in 2011, Human Rights Watch is concerned that the Vietnamese government will intensify its campaign to silence government critics and curb social unrest in an effort to quell any potential challenges to its one-party rule.

Vietnam’s democracy activists - The Economists

SPEAKING your mind can be costly in Vietnam. This week a court in Ho Chi Minh City, the main city in the south of the country, sentenced four democracy activists to jail terms ranging from five to 16 years. Two of the men, Le Cong Dinh and Nguyen Tien Trung, had previously studied and lived abroad and one, Mr Dinh, is among the country’s best-known criminal defence lawyers.

Dangerous convictions

On January 20th a court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Le Cong Dinh, a 41-year-old lawyer, and Nguyen Tien Trung, 26, an activist, to prison terms of five and seven years for advocating multiparty democracy. For both, the road to prison began with Western scholarships. Mr Dinh has a law degree from America; Mr Trung took a masters in France.

News from first day of the trail

AFP

Vietnam dissidents put on trial for subversion

By Aude Genet (AFP)

HO CHI MINH CITY — A group of democracy campaigners went on trial in Vietnam Wednesday, facing possible death sentences on charges of trying to overthrow the communist regime in a case which has sparked global concern.

Human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, 41, French-trained computer expert and blogger Nguyen Tien Trung, 26, and Internet entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, 43, are charged with "activities aimed at subverting the people's administration," according to the indictment.

The charges against the three carry a minimum penalty of 12 years in prison and a maximum of death.

It is the most high-profile case in a series of arrests and convictions of dissidents and bloggers in the communist country over the past year.

A fourth man in the dock, Le Thang Long, 42, is accused of being an accomplice and faces five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

"This is an extremely serious case," said the indictment. "It is prejudicial to national security."

It accused the men of an organised non-violent campaign, in collusion with "reactionary Vietnamese in exile and hostile forces", to overturn the government with the help of the Internet.

"They broadly disseminated information to distort reality and make people disbelieve party and state leadership," the charge said.

Although the defendants did not enter formal pleas, Dinh and Trung told the court in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, that they had violated the law.

Thuc testified that he wanted to warn people about socio-economic problems, like corruption.

"My behaviour did not violate the law," he said, admitting that he signed a confession saying he had called for a multi-party system.

But he alleged he was "mistreated" during the investigation process which "was not conducted in accordance with the law."

All except Long were accused of having links to the banned Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), which Dinh testified wants to establish a multiparty system and calls for pluralism.

"What I did violated the law," Dinh said.

The DPV, which the indictment says seeks to overthrow the government, has its roots in the Communist Party. It was dissolved in the 1980s but revived in 2006 by Hoang Minh Chinh, a former communist official-turned-dissident who died in 2008.

Trung also testified that he violated the law and had been "immature".

He and the others are accused of preparing dozens of anti-state documents and blogs.

Thuc foresaw the elimination of the Communist Party by 2020, Dinh drafted a new constitution, while Trung, together with students in France, established a "democratic youth movement", the indictment said.

Long testified that he and Thuc were part of a group that discussed socio-economic issues and ways to "develop the country".

Long, who admitted writing articles and sending them to a foreign radio service, said: "I think my discussion is natural and it's within my citizen's rights."

Neither relatives of the accused nor foreign journalists and diplomats were allowed into the courtroom and watched the trial via closed-circuit television.

Dozens of police surrounded the People's Court complex in central Ho Chi Minh, where the defendants were arrested between May and July last year.

Dinh's arrest in particular sparked concern in Europe and the United States, and among a global association of lawyers, human rights watchdogs and press freedom groups.

"Their real crime, in the eyes of the authorities, was to have requested more freedoms," said press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

US consul general Kenneth Fairfax, who monitored the trial, said the case "related to exercise of free speech" and called for their release.

Blogger and activist faces possible death penalty (RSF)

From RSF

Reporters Without Borders is deeply concerned about French-educated blogger and pro-democracy activist Nguyen Tien Trung, now facing a possible death penalty under article 79 of the criminal code after the charges against him were changed to “trying to overthrow the people’s government.” Arrested more than five months ago, he is due to be tried at the end of the month.

“We call for Nguyen Tien Trung’s immediate and unconditional release as the charges against him are entirely fabricated,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Trung is a pacifist who has never endangered the Vietnamese state. He just exercised his right to free expression, a right he learned to use in France.”

The press freedom organisation added: “Trung is a scapegoat. The authorities want to make an example of him in order to intimidate other Vietnamese students who want to press for more freedom when they return home after studying abroad.”

Trung’s family told Reporters Without Borders that his father was allowed to visit him on 10 December for the second time since his arrest. The authorities are reportedly now going to allow his family to visit him once a month. Trung seemed to be in good physical and psychological condition and did his best to reassure his father. He asked his father to bring him books, especially economics and French books. The authorities are considering the request.

A former student at the National Institute for Applied Sciences (INSA) in the northern French city of Rennes, where he got a masters in information technology, Trung was arrested at his parents’ home in Ho Chi Minh City on 7 July on a charge of propaganda against the state under article 88 of the criminal code. A government TV station broadcast taped footage in which he made a confession.

He seems to have been arrested because of the pro-democracy views he posted online and, in particular, an open letter to the government about education policies.

The Trung support committee website posted an opinion piece by Philippe Echart, who was one of Trung’s teachers at the INSA.

“It is strange for a teacher to realise that one his students, which whom he had a few talks and to whom he paid special attention because he was a foreigner, is now being in prison at the other end of the world, in his own country, on serious charges,” Echard writes. “And why is he in prison? For expressing his views freely. For criticising university education in Vietnam. For calling for more freedoms and more democracy, as many other intellectuals in his country have.”

The support committee is calling for a determined campaign on his behalf. “The worst that could happen to Trung is that people gradually forget him,” the committee’s appeal says. Trung’s friends and family have relaunched the campaign for his release. Sign a petition at the http://freetrung.tk website.

AFP - French-schooled activist could face death in Vietnam: father

A French-educated democracy activist could face the death penalty if convicted at a trial expected in Vietnam late this month, his father said on Thursday.

A French-educated democracy activist could face the death penalty if convicted at a trial expected in Vietnam late this month, his father said on Thursday.

Nguyen Tien Trung, 25, was arrested in July along with several others, including human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, and accused of anti-state activities.

The United States and European Union have expressed concern over their cases.

"Trung told me that probably he would be brought to trial at the end of this month," his father, Nguyen Tu Tu, told AFP after meeting his son in detention earlier in the day.

Trung was arrested for "propaganda against the state", which carries a prison term on conviction. But he is now facing the more serious charge of "subverting the people's administration", his father said.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of death.

Tu said this was the second time he had met his son since the arrest.

"He is fine," Tu said.

Dinh, Trung, and another activist, Tran Anh Kim, 60, are allegedly linked to the banned Vietnam Democratic Party, the state Vietnam News has reported.

Trung graduated from an engineering college in Rennes, France.

He was an outstanding student with a love of his country, French European Parliament member Nicole Kiil-Nielsen said in a letter to Vietnam's French embassy, calling for his release.

He is a "democrat and pacifist", she said in the letter posted on a blog set up by Trung's supporters.

Video of the news conference at "INSA de Rennes" in October

Video in 2 parts of the news conference held on October 22nd 2009 at "INSA de Rennes", France, in order to ask for Trung's release:

(French version with English subtitles)

Part 1



Part 2

Trung in "Le Monde", a famous French newspaper

http://www.lemonde.fr/asie-pacifique/article/2009/10/10/vague-de-condamnation-d-opposants-au-vietnam_1252115_3216.html#xtor=RSS-3208