SLANDERING NOT SPYING....Re: Cyber dissident sentenced to seven years in jail, three years house arrest after criticizing Vietnamese government

Mr Nguyen Vu Binh was accused of spying for the benefit of whom the
VCP did not say. He was accused of slandering the VCP for selling the
national territpry and maritime waters. None of this accusation was
true so at the most, Mr Binh could be charged of slandering the VCP
not for spying.

Such a charge should not be punished by more than one year in prison
and since Mr Binh had been jailed for more than one year. I urge the
VCP to release Mr Binh immediately to show the World that its judicial
system is catching up with its economic growth

LIBERTYFLAME@SOCAL.RR.COM (LIBERTY FLAME / LUA TU DO) wrote in message news:<7758c273.0312310931.15c7c427@posting.google.com>...
> Cyber dissident sentenced to seven years in jail, three years house
> arrest after criticizing Vietnamese government
> MARGIE MASON, Associated Press Writer
> Tuesday, December 30, 2003
> ©2003 Associated Press
>
> URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/30/international0005EST0400.DTL
>
>
> (12-30) 21:05 PST HANOI, Vietnam (AP) --
>
> A former journalist who used the Internet to criticize the Vietnamese
> government was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in jail and three
> years house arrest for spying, a court official said.
>
> Nguyen Vu Binh, 35, was charged with gathering anti-government
> information and documents for "reactionary organizations" in exile to
> help them oppose the government, the official said on condition of
> anonymity.
>
> During the half-day trial at the People's Court in Hanoi, Binh
> admitted he had contacts with foreign organizations but maintained he
> did not do anything wrong, he said.
>
> The judge ruled his actions constituted espionage, he added.
>
> Binh was arrested in September 2002 for writing an article that
> circulated on the Internet criticizing a border agreement between
> Vietnam and China. A month earlier, he joined 20 others in signing a
> petition to government leaders demanding legal reforms to protect
> human rights and to establish an independent anti-corruption body.
> That same year, he also submitted testimony to the U.S. Congress
> criticizing Vietnam's human rights record.
>
> Binh left his job at Tap Chi Cong San (Journal of Communism) in 2001,
> after applying to form an independent opposition party. The Communist
> Party, Vietnam's only political party, strictly forbids any calls for
> a multiparty system.
>
> London-based Amnesty International and New York-based Human Rights
> Watch issued a joint statement Tuesday calling on the international
> community to denounce the trial and push for Binh's freedom.
>
> "Nguyen Vu Binh faces a summary trial and hefty jail term for speaking
> out against abuse," said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director at
> Human Rights Watch. "The U.S. Congress, which heard testimony from
> Binh last year, has a responsibility now to protest his case."
>
> Dozens of police and security guards, some dressed in plain clothes,
> stood outside the courthouse, blocking anyone from standing on the
> sidewalk. Across the street, police harassed Binh's family members by
> shouting through bullhorns and blowing whistles in their faces when
> they tried to speak to foreign journalists and diplomats from several
> embassies, who also were denied access to the trial.
>
> "If it's an open and fair trial, the defendant's relatives should be
> allowed into the courtroom so they could see what crimes he committed,
> but his parents and siblings were not allowed inside," said Binh's
> older sister, Nguyen Thi Phong. "Is it an open and fair trial?"
>
> She said Binh has been jailed for more than a year, but no one in the
> family has been allowed to visit him. Only his wife was allowed inside
> the courthouse.
>
> International rights groups, as well as the U.S. State Department,
> have regularly criticized Vietnam for its repressive treatment of
> religious and political dissidents. Hanoi maintains that only
> lawbreakers are punished.