Los Angeles Times
By Emily Alpert
January 9, 2013, 1:25 p.m.
Fourteen activists were convicted of subversion Wednesday in Vietnam and sentenced to up to 13 years in prison, in an unusually large case centering on their alleged ties to a banned democracy group.
Vietnamese state media reported that the dissidents had been sent abroad by the “reactionary organization” Viet Tan to draw up plans to overthrow the government, equipped with money, vehicles and training.
Viet Tan, an exiled political party, slammed the case as a “sham trial” to persecute dissidents for peaceful advocacy. “Viet Tan rejects the fabrications peddled by the communist court to rationalize the ‘subversion’ charges,” the U.S.-based group said Wednesday, stressing that the group uses peaceful means to seek democracy and reform.
Human rights groups said the subversion trial was one of the biggest court cases against Vietnamese dissidents in years. The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said it was deeply troubled by the convictions, “part of a disturbing human rights trend in Vietnam.” It called for the jailed activists to be immediately freed.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-vietnam-jail-subversion-20130109,0,7808012.story
