October 8, 2009
Hanoi – A Hanoi court sentenced a democracy activist Thursday to four years in prison and four years of probation for writings that advocated multiparty democracy, the third such trial in three days. Pham Van Troi, 37, was sentenced for violating Article 88 of Vietnam’s legal code, which forbids “spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
While other activists have been convicted under Article 88 for posts on blogs or websites, Troi was accused only of sending emails and exchanging documents with acquaintances. Some of Troi’s writings were posted on websites, but he was not accused of posting them himself.
Prosecutors said that investigators had restored some documents on Troi’s computer that showed he had distributed them to others. Troi’s defence lawyer, Huynh Van Dong, argued that those documents had been sent to Troi’s inbox, and that he had deleted them.
“I only implemented my rights as a citizen,” Troi said. “The documents the security investigation agency found are real, but they are only documents I shared with my friends relating to the state’s policies.”
Prosecutors also said Troi had slandered police by accusing them of beating him when he was arrested on a trip to Lang Son in 2007. Judges rejected Dong’s request to present evidence showing that police had in fact beaten Troi.
Troi’s was one of nine trials of bloggers and democracy activists taking place this week in Hanoi and Haiphong.
On Tuesday in Hanoi, poet Tran Duc Thach, 57, was sentenced to three years’ prison and three years’ probation, also for violating Article 88.
On Wednesday, Vu Van Hung, a 43-year-old high school teacher, was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of probation on similar charges.
On Thursday and Friday, six other democracy activists are being tried in Haiphong. They are the writers Nguyen Xuan Nghia and Nguyen Van Tinh, university student Ngo Quynh, former Communist Party member Nguyen Manh Son, land rights activist Nguyen Van Tuc and electrician Nguyen Kim Nhan.
Vietnamese police Thursday reportedly detained Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, another democracy activist, as she was driving to Haiphong to attend the trials. Thuy, who spent 9 months in jail in 2008, had attended Hung’s trial in Hanoi the day before.
