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of Human Rights Defenders

Today, the People’s Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Mr. Le Cong Dinh to five years in prison, following a one-day trial, for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration”, under Article 79 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, after he acknowledged engaging in activities for democratisation and a multiparty political system in Vietnam.

Mr. Le Cong Dinh was sentenced together with three other democracy activists, namely Messrs. Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Nguyen Tien Trung and Le Thang Long, who were sentenced to up to 16 years in prison for the same charges.

The trial, which was expected to last two days, was carried out under tight security, with more than a dozen police outside the gate and around the courthouse. Several foreign diplomats and journalists were allowed to watch the trial but only via closed-circuit television in an adjacent room of the court. In addition, reporters were barred from using recording devices, cameras or mobile phones.

Our organisations recall that Mr. Le Cong Dinh was arrested on June 13, 2009 by Public Security Police and later charged with “conducting propaganda” against the State, before being later charged under Article 79 of the Penal Code.

Mr. Le Cong Dinh is a prominent human rights lawyer and the former Vice-President of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association. Shortly before his arrest, he had spoken out against the extraction of bauxite in the Central Highlands, and had also called for political reform in Viet Nam. In recent years, he has also defended several Viet Nam human rights and democracy activists. In August 2009, he was compelled to make a public “confession” broadcast on television.

Moreover, the Observatory and Front Line wish to underline that they sent to the Permanent Mission of Viet Nam to the United Nations in Geneva a request for visas in order to send an international observer to Mr. Dinh’s trial, which received no reply.

Accordingly, our organisations urge the Vietnamese authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Le Cong Dinh and to release him immediately and unconditionally since his detention is arbitrary as it only aims at sanctioning his human rights and pro-democracy activities.

More generally, our organisations call upon the Vietnamese authorities to put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against all human rights defenders in Viet Nam, in conformity with the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as well as with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Viet Nam.

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