KET QUA PHIEN TOA LUAT RUNG VIET

Kết quả phiên toà xử ông Trần Quốc Hiền phát ngôn viên của Hiệp Hội Đoàn Kết Công Nông Việt Nam sáng ngày 15/05/2007 tại Sài Gòn

Phiên toà của CSVN xử ông Trần Quốc Hiền phát ngôn viên của Hiệp Hội Đoàn Kết Công Nông Việt Nam vào sáng nay 15/05/2007 tại Sài Gòn đã kết thúc với bản án: 5 năm tù + 2 năm Quản Chế + 2 năm theo dõi.

Người đưa tin từ Sài Gòn

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BREAKING NEWS
Vietnam jails 6 democrats in a week

Hanoi (dpa) - A court in southern Vietnam sentenced an independent union activist and lawyer to five years in prison on Tuesday, the sixth pro-democracy activist to be sentenced in a week during a harsh crackdown on dissidents in the communist country.

Tran Quoc Hien, 42, received a three-year prison term for "conducting propaganda against the state" and two years for "disrupting security," according to Vu Phi Long, presiding judge in the HCM City People's Court.

"The total sentence is five years in prison. He pleaded guilty at the court and promised not to violate the law again," Judge Long said by telephone.

State-run media on Tuesday denounced Hien, who is the former director of Saigon Legal Consultancy, saying he has defamed the government "under the cover of 'fighting for democracy and human rights in Vietnam.' "

Hien was a member of the pro-democracy umbrella group Bloc 8406, which was formed last year, and had "visited hostile websites in 2006 to contact and exchange anti-government views with some hostile figures," reported Viet Nam Law newspaper.

He had also encouraged Vietnamese workers to hold unauthorized strikes, urged the repeal of a law stating that only government unions are legal and published internet articles "to slander and distort the policies of the [Communist] Party and the state," the newspaper said.

Last week, Vietnam sentenced five other activists linked to Bloc 8406, including lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, in a crackdown condemned by international diplomats.

A representative from the US embassy said last week's ruling against Dai and Nhan, also convicted of anti-state propaganda, was deeply troubling.

"This trial comes in the wake of the disturbing increase in the harassment, detention, arrests and convictions of individuals peacefully exercising their legitimate rights," said Ralph Falzone, second secretary at the US embassy in Hanoi.

"We call on the government of Vietnam to release these individuals and other political prisoners," Falzone said

A European diplomat also said the evidence in the dissident trials was weak and the sentences too hard.

"We consider that people should not be condemned for just peacefully expressing their views," the European diplomat said.

Vietnam's government released a statement Monday saying that the country respects human rights and supports democracy and freedom of speech, but reserves the right to prosecute those violating Article 88 of the country's penal code outlawing "propaganda" against the state.

"In Vietnam, no one is arrested due to their political or religious beliefs," the statement said. "Only those who have breached the law are punished."

English/français

15.05.07

Reporters Without Borders / Internet Freedom desk

VIETNAM

SIXTH CYBER-DISSIDENT JAILED IN WORST CRACKDOWN SINCE 2002

Reporters Without Borders said it was stunned by a five-year jail sentence handed down today to pro-democracy activist Tran Quoc Hien, the sixth such sentence in a week.

The 42-year-old member of the democratic movement "bloc 8406" and spokesman for the United Workers-Farmers Organization (UWFO) was sentenced for "spreading anti-government propaganda" online and "endangering state security", at the end of a four-hour trial. He had been arrested in January 2007.

Voicing deep concern about the crackdown, the worldwide press freedom organisation said: "It is the worst series of arrests and sentences since 2002. The Vietnamese government is playing games with the international community. It pretended for several months to be ready to open up, with the aim of easing its membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but it is now obvious it was a smokescreen."

"Vietnam is one of the most authoritarian and repressive countries in the world, a country where the simple fact of publicly calling for democratic reform leads to prison. It is time that Europe, the United States and all democratic governments got tougher with the Vietnamese authorities", the organisation said.

Five other pro-democracy activists have been tried over the last five days. Huynh Nguyen Dao, Nguyen Bac Truyen and Le Nguyen Sang were respectively sentenced, on 10 May 2007, to three four and five years in jail (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22058). The following day, the lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan were sentenced to five and four years in prison (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22100).

Six cyber-dissidents were arrested between January and September 2002: Le Chi Quang, Pham Hong Son, Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue, Nguyen Vu Binh and Nguyen Khac Toan. They were sentenced to jail terms of up to 12 years in prison. Of these, only Nguyen Vu Binh is still behind bars. The others were released in the month before Vietnam became a member of the WTO, in November 2006.

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VIET-NAM

SIXIÈME CYBERDISSIDENT CONDAMNÉ EN UNE SEMAINE : LA PIRE VAGUE DE REPRESSION DEPUIS 2002

Le militant démocrate Tran Quoc Hien a été condamné, le 25 mai 2007, à cinq ans de prison pour avoir "diffusé de la propagande antigouvernementale", notamment sur Internet, et "mis en danger la sécurité de l'Etat". Reporters sans frontières est atterrée par cette condamnation, la sixième en moins d'une semaine, et exprime sa profonde inquiétude face à cette vague de répression.

"C'est la pire série d'arrestations et de condamnations depuis 2002. Le gouvernement vietnamien s'est joué de la communauté internationale. Il lui a fait croire pendant quelques mois à sa volonté d'ouverture, dans le but de faciliter son adhésion à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce, mais on constate aujourd'hui que ce n'était qu'un écran de fumée. Le Viêt-nam est l'un des pays les plus autoritaires et les plus répressifs de la planète. Un pays où le simple fait de demander publiquement des réformes démocratiques mène en prison. Il est temps pour l'Europe, les Etats-Unis et l'ensemble des gouvernements démocratiques de durcir le ton face aux autorités vietnamiennes", a déclaré Reporters sans frontières.

Tran Quoc Hien, 42 ans, membre du mouvement démocratique dit du "bloc 8406" et porte-parole de l'Union des ouvriers et des paysans (United Workers-Farmers Organization - UWFO), a été condamné à l'issue d'un procès de quatre heures. Il avait été arrêté en janvier 2007.

Cinq autres militants démocrates ont été jugés au cours de ces cinq derniers jours. Huynh Nguyen Dao, Nguyen Bac Truyen et Le Nguyen Sang ont été respectivement condamnés, le 10 mai 2007 à trois, quatre et cinq ans de prison (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22057). Le lendemain, les avocats Nguyen Van Dai et Le Thi Cong Nhan se sont vu infliger des peines de cinq et quatre ans de prison (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22099).

Six cyberdissidents avaient été arrêtés entre janvier et septembre 2002 : Le Chi Quang, Pham Hong Son, Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue, Nguyen Vu Binh et Nguyen Khac Toan. Ils avaient été condamnés à des peines allant jusqu'à douze ans de prison. De ce groupe, seul Nguyen Vu Binh est toujours détenu. Les autres avaient été libérées dans le mois ayant précédé l'adhésion du Viêt-nam à l'OMC, en novembre 2006.

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Bureau Internet et libertés / Internet Freedom desk
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Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
TEL: ++ 33 (0) 1 44 83 84 71
FAX: ++ 33 (0) 1 45 23 11 51
internet@rsf.org

www.internet.rsf.org