EU Voices Concerns Over Jailing Of Dissident Bloggers In Vietnam

 

 

RTTNews

9/24/2012

The European Union on Monday expressed its concerns over the jailing of three dissident bloggers in Vietnam on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda, and urged the South Asian country's government to honor the rights of its citizens to freely express their opinions in a peaceful manner.

In a statement issued by her office on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed the European bloc's serious concern over "the sentencing of bloggers Nguyen Van Hai, Ta Phong Tan and Phan Thanh Hai" at a recent trial in Vietnamese capital Ho Chi Minh City.

"The EU recalls the fundamental right of all persons to hold and freely express their opinions in a peaceful manner, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a party."

Noting that the sentences handed down to the three bloggers appeared to be "particularly severe," the statement added: "While expressing goodwill and her appreciation of the increasingly positive EU-Vietnam partnership, the High Representative calls on Vietnam to respect its international obligations and to release the convicted bloggers immediately."

Ashton's response came hours after a Vietnamese court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced the three prominent dissident bloggers to prolonged prison terms for "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

In a trial that lasted just a few hours, Nguyen Van Hai was given 12 years' jail, while Ta Phong Tan, whose mother burnt herself to death in July after police harassed her family, received ten years. The other blogger Phan Thanh Hai was sentenced to four years. Nguyen's case had been raised by US President Barack Obama during a speech to mark World Press Freedom Day in last May.

Jailing of the three bloggers comes amid crackdowns on political blogs ordered by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. People are increasingly using Internet to expose corruption and nepotism by the ruling Communist party and to express their resentment to the state of affairs in the South-East Asian country, where the Press is controlled by the state.

Hundreds of police surrounded the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Monday morning to prevent supporters of the convicts from approaching the court. Seven people were arrested before the trial started and mobile phones were barred from the court premises, reports said quoting activists.

Nguyen's former wife Duong Thi Tan had expressed her fears on Sunday that the trio would not get a fair trial. "In this country, the law is never enforced as it is enshrined," she was quoted as saying by the media.

by RTT Staff Writer

 

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