Vietnam jails human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai

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Six Vietnamese activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, were sentenced to jail for “attempting to overthrow the state” on Thursday after a one-day trial held under heavy security in the capital city of Hanoi, lawyers said.

While Dai was sent to jail for 15 years, other activists were handed a jail term between seven and 12 years. Analysts believed these to be the harshest sentences in years in the country as it tightens its grip on critics.

Observers said that the conservative leadership in charge since 2016 is waging a crackdown on lawyers, bloggers and dissidents that has sent a chill throughout the country among those who raise a dissenting voice against the government.

Vu Minh Khanh, wife of Vietnamese dissident Nguyen Van Dai, speaks with the media after Dai's trial outside a court in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 5, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The latest case has drawn international scorn and gained widespread attention in the country, where independent civil society groups, political parties and media are all barred.

Article 79, under which the Dai and others were charged, carries the maximum penalty of death, but the accused were spared the harshest sentence.

The activists are linked to the Brotherhood for Democracy, a nationwide network of activists that says it has about 80 full-time members.

They were accused of carrying out human rights training, pushing for multi-party democracy and receiving funds from overseas, according to the indictment.

"At the trial today, no evidence showing the defendants' attempt at overthrowing the state was given," lawyer Le Luan told AFP after the one-day trial.

"The charge was very much groundless," he said.

Vu Minh Khanh wears a T-shirt with an image of her husband Nguyen Van Dai during a mass prayer for Dai at Thai Ha church in Hanoi, December 27, 2015. /VCG Photo

Five of the accused have been previously convicted, including lawyer Dai who has long been a thorn in the side of the authorities. Dai served four years in prison in 2007 for anti-state activity.

He was arrested along with his assistant Le Thu Ha – who was sentenced to nine years Thursday – in December 2015.

Both were initially accused of anti-state propaganda before it was increased to the more serious charge of attempting to overthrow the state.

The others, Pham Van Troi, pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen have been in custody since July 2017.

They were handed between seven and 12 years in jail.

"The trial has been so unfair and illogical. My husband and his friends did nothing wrong," Dai's wife, Vu Minh Khanh, told AFP in tears after the trial.

"All of them refused having committed any crime. Everything they did was not illegal," she said.

'Democracy is not a crime'

Protesters hold candles and placards with the image of Nguyen Van Dai and Dai's assistant Le Thu Ha during a mass prayer for Dai and Ha at Thai Ha church in Hanoi, December 27, 2015. /VCG Photo

Earlier on Thursday, several supporters of the dissidents were hauled off by plainclothes police as they tried to march to the courthouse in central Hanoi.

The group carried signs reading "Democracy is not a crime" and "Oppose suppression of Brotherhood for Democracy" before their march was broken up.

At least two were hauled into unmarked vans by plainclothes security agents and others put on a bus, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Rights groups have decried the uptick in arrests and convictions over the past two years, including Amnesty International which said this week there are at least 97 dissidents behind bars in Vietnam.

Vietnam's foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang rejected claims that activists are being targeted and said the state is "ensuring and promoting human rights" in line with international law.

"In Vietnam, there are no so-called prisoners of conscience and no arrests of people who express their personal viewpoints," she told reporters Thursday, rejecting "biased" information from rights groups.

[Cover Photo: Vietnamese dissident Nguyen Van Dai (center) stands at a court in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 5, 2018. /Reuters Photo]

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Source(s): AFP