A Vietnamese court has sentenced two exiled activists to 17 years each for anti-state activities, as Hanoi intensifies its crackdown on dissent.
HANOI: A Vietnamese court has convicted two exiled pro-democracy activists in absentia, sentencing each to 17 years in prison for anti-state activities.
State media reported that lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and journalist Le Trung Khoa, both based in Germany, were tried separately on Wednesday on charges of distributing anti-state information.
The court found Dai guilty of managing nine online accounts to disseminate articles and videos containing “distorted and slanderous content” against the state.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Dai called the proceedings “a farce of justice designed to silence critical voices”.
Khoa was convicted for using his website to publish articles “attacking party and state leaders” and organising protests in Berlin.
Both men are long-standing critics of Vietnam’s one-party government, where all political parties besides the ruling Communist Party are banned.
Dai previously served a four-year prison term nearly two decades ago and was sentenced to 15 years in 2018 before being released and flying to Germany.
A commentary in the state-run People’s Police newspaper this week urged German authorities to prevent the activists from using German territory to undermine Vietnam.
It also called for cooperation in extraditing or deporting the individuals to Vietnam for prosecution.
AFP contacted Germany’s embassy in Hanoi for comment on the cases and the extradition request.
Relations between Germany and Vietnam were strained in 2017 by the kidnapping of a Vietnamese executive from a Berlin park, which a German court linked to Vietnamese agents.
Human Rights Watch states that more than 160 political and religious prisoners are currently behind bars in Vietnam.
