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Vietnam court upholds jail terms in democracy banners case The court in the northern port city of Haiphong confirmed jail terms of two to six years for the men for hanging democracy banners, distributing leaflets, and writing and distributing other anti-state documents. "The prison sentences of all six convicted by the lower court were confirmed on Thursday," a court official said, declining to be named. The dissidents were originally sentenced in October for "propaganda against the state", under Penal Code Article 88, an article activists say criminalises peaceful dissent. "I have the impression that the Vietnamese state wants to punish all those who have the intention of opposing it," Tran Vu Hai, the lawyer for one of the men, told AFP. "It's sad." The alleged leader of the six dissidents, Nguyen Xuan Nghia, 60, received the heaviest penalty of six years while Hai's client, Nguyen Van Tuc, got a four-year sentence. Ngo Quynh got three years while Nguyen Van Tinh and Nguyen Manh Son each got three and a half years and Nguyen Kim Nhan got two years. Tuc, 45, said at his trial in October that he was a poorly educated farmer and combat veteran who lost his land to corrupt officials. "No one was for the rights of the people... That's why I asked for pluralism, for a multi-party system," he said. Foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the proceedings, which lasted a day. The convictions came as communist Vietnam's legal system drew criticism from the United States and the European Union Thursday for jailing four dissidents for up to 16 years for trying to overthrow the regime. Activists said the day-long trial in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday made a mockery of justice, and urged the prisoners' release in a call backed by the American embassy. On Tuesday an appeals court in Hanoi upheld jail terms for three other activists also tried in October on the same charge as the group of six. After the initial trials, the United States embassy said it was "deeply disturbed" by the nine convictions despite Vietnam's international commitments to uphold human rights
Vietnam Human Rights Network |