HANOI, Sept 18, 2009 (AFP) – Eight Vietnamese dissidents, who allegedly hung banners on bridges and called for political pluralism, will be tried next week, relatives said on Friday.
The accused have been in custody for about a year and include the writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia.
He is charged with propaganda against the state and will be tried with five others next Thursday in the northern port city of Haiphong, his wife, Nguyen Thi Nga, told AFP.
A conviction on the charge could lead to several years in prison. Nga said he is not guilty. “He is patriotic…. He committed no crime,” she said.
Officials in the one-party communist state have not responded to AFP’s inquiries about the trial.
Nghia is a leader of the outlawed pro-democracy group Bloc 8406 which takes its name from the April 8, 2006 date it was founded.
Their alleged crimes included distributing leaflets, hanging banners on bridges, writing poems and articles and disseminating articles on the Internet calling for democracy, human rights and political pluralism, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
The group said it had obtained a copy of a police report on the case.
Two other activists are expected to be tried separately on the same charge but in the capital Hanoi, relatives said.
Poet Pham Van Troi, 37, will be tried on Thursday in Hanoi, said his wife, Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang.
“He only expressed his opinion peacefully and fought for democracy and human rights in Vietnam. He did not oppose the government,” she said.
The wife of Vu Hung, another activist, said she heard from lawyers that he would be tried next Friday in Hanoi.
Hung, 42, was arrested for writing slogans against the state displayed on a banner in public, his wife Ly Thi Tuyet Mai said.
He called for a multi-party system, “but I think it’s the aspiration of the people,” she said.
“We think he did not do anything that could be considered a crime,” Mai said.
