Reuters in Bangkok, Monday 4 February 2013 04.43 EST
A court in Vietnam has sentenced a man to life in prison and given jail terms of up to 17 years to other defendants after they were found guilty of “subversive activities”, according to the state-run Vietnam Television.
The verdict follows a series of harsh punishments handed down for dissent in the communist-ruled country, at a time of reported political infighting among the leadership centred on how to reform the economy and tackle management problems at big state firms that have led to bad debt.
The people’s court of Phu Yen province gave a life sentence to Phan Van Thu, head of a group that wanted to establish a new government in Vietnam, the television station said in a news bulletin.
Jail terms of between 12 and 17 years were handed to others in the case, the television station said without elaborating. “Their action has seriously violated the laws,” it added.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/04/vietnam-jails-activists-subervsion
