Press release
21 December 2012
Three Vietnamese bloggers given harsh prison sentences for alleged anti-state propaganda must be freed immediately, Amnesty International said ahead of their appeal hearing on 28 December 2012.
The bloggers were sentenced on 24 September 2012 after a trial lasting only a few hours.
Nguyen Van Hai, known as Dieu Cay (“the peasant’s pipe”) was sentenced to 12 years in prison; former policewoman Ta Phong Tan to 10 years; and Phan Thanh Hai, known as AnhBaSaiGon, to four years.
Their appeal hearing will take place at the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.
“The bloggers’ sentences are a blatant attempt by the Vietnamese authorities to silence dissenting views,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Viet Nam.
Read more: http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/viet-nam-release-bloggers-stop-silencing-dissent-2012-12-21
