Vietnam court upholds jail term for soldier turned dissident(AFP) 4/29/2010A Vietnamese appeals court on Thursday upheld a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence for a military officer turned democracy campaigner convicted of attempted subversion, official media reported. Tran Anh Kim was among five people convicted late last year and early this year in high-profile cases for trying to overthrow the communist regime. Kim's appeal was heard Thursday in the northern town of Thai Binh, reported VietnamPlus, an online publication of the state Vietnam News Agency. At his original trial, Kim was accused of having major roles in "reactionary and illegal" political organisations, the Democratic Party of Vietnam and the pro-democracy bloc known as "8406". Prosecutors said Kim, who served in the army for more than 30 years until 2000, had written articles "defaming" the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party and calling for "non-violent" regime change. The appeal for three other dissidents jailed in January for trying to overthrow the regime is scheduled for May 11 in southern Ho Chi Minh City, a court source said Wednesday. Their case was the most prominent in a series of arrests and convictions of dissidents and bloggers over the past year. It led to criticism from the United States, European Union and Britain. Internet entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc received a 16-year sentence while human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh and another man, Le Thang Long, got five years each. A fourth dissident, French-trained computer expert and blogger Nguyen Tien Trung, was jailed for seven years at the same trial. The court source said Trung did not appeal.
Vietnam Human Rights Network |