April 4, 2011
Hanoi – A prominent Vietnamese human rights activist was sentenced Monday to seven years in jail in one of the most high profile cases against political dissidents in the communist country.
Lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu was convicted with spreading ’propaganda against the state’ under Article 88 of the penal code.
The indictment said he had published articles and given interviews to foreign media ’smearing the authority of the people’s government, carrying out psychological war, asking to overthrow the regime and demanding a multiparty system.’
Vu looked calm as he was escorted from the court.
Judge Nguyen Duc Chinh said although Vu was born into a prominent political family, his actions were ’serious and harmful to society.’
About three hours into the trial, one of Vu’s four lawyers was ejected from the court after insisting that details of the indictment be made public.
About 10 minutes later, the other three lawyers walked out of the courtroom. Tran Dinh Trien said the trial had not been conducted in accordance with the law, so he and his colleagues decided they would not ’sit here to listen anymore.’ Vu represented himself for the remainder of the hearing.
Earlier in the day, police cordoned off the entire block around the Hanoi People’s Court, causing traffic chaos in surrounding streets.
Police tried to prevent onlookers from talking to a reporter. ’Lots of people are talking about the trial but we don’t want to be arrested,’ said one woman who requested anonymity.
Vu attracted notoriety when he tried to sue Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung over Chinese-run bauxite mines in the Central Highlands. In October, he again tried to sue the premier over a decree that bars groups from filing petitions or complaints with the government.
Neither of those legal challenges were mentioned in the indictment.
The case led to ’an unprecedented movement of popular support,’ especially via the internet, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. He said the lawyer had attracted a diverse group of supporters, including Catholics, academics, and high-ranking members of the Communist Party.
Robertson said Vu’s sentence was ’extremely harsh’ and meant to ’intimidate many of those people from civil society who came out to support him,’ he said.
Robertson said the message of the verdict was that in protesting against the government ’it doesn’t matter if you are from a revolutionary family, they are going to throw you in jail no matter what.’
