NEW YORK--A Vietnamese court sentenced two Falun Gong
practitioners to jail Thursday for broadcasting uncensored news
programs via radio into China, according to their lawyer and media
reports. Meanwhile, police reportedly beat and detained other Falun
Gong practitioners who had quietly gathered outside the courtroom
for a sit-in to protest the trial.
Mr. Vu Duc Trung, a 31-year-old CEO of a high-tech company, and his
36-year-old brother-in-law Mr. Le Van Thanh were sentenced in Hanoi
to 3 and 2 years in prison, respectively. The pair have been in
custody for 17 months, which will be subtracted from their
sentence. The trial lasted half a day and sources close to the case
say the verdict appeared to have been predetermined in advance.
"I said Vietnam does not have any law that bans Falungong, so we
cannot put them on trial," their lawyer Tran Dinh Trien told
Agence France Press.
The Epoch Times reported that a witness present at the
trial said that the lawyer refuted every point raised by
prosecutors, who had no rebuttal.
“This is not a trial,” a colleague of Trung's who was at the trial
said. “It is just a way to frame people. The judges could not
respond to any of the points Trien made. They just passed their
sentence anyway.”
Reporters without Borders (statement)
and Freedom House (alert)
issued statements condemning the sentencing.
"This is a sad day for Vietnam," says Falun Gong spokesman Erping
Zhang. "These men's broadcasts of uncensored news to China did
absolutely nothing to harm Vietnamese society or break Vietnamese
law. They should be celebrated as heroes, not treated like
criminals."
"Sentencing Trung and Thanh to prison in a show trial is shameless
and sets a dangerous precedent of the Vietnamese government caving
to Chinese Communist Party pressure," says Zhang. "We hope the
international community can redouble its efforts to free these men
immediately and use whatever leverage possible to ensure that the
Vietnamese authorities stop abusing local Falun Gong
practitioners."
Background
Trung and Thanh were charged with “transmitting information
illegally onto the telecommunications network” for having broadcast
news programs of Sound of Hope radio via short-wave radio into
China. Sound of Hope’s programs typically report on human rights
abuses, corruption, and repression of Falun Gong practitioners and
other persecuted groups. Trung initiated the broadcasts in April
2009. The two men were abducted on June 11, 2010 and have remained
in custody since, with very few family visits.
The mistreatment of Trung and Thanh is occurring amidst a broader
intensification of Vietnamese harassment of the local Falun Gong
community following direct Chinese Communist Party pressure.
According to the indictment used, the Vietnamese government
arrested the men after a diplomatic memo was sent on May 30, 2010,
from the Chinese Embassy to Vietnam's Ministry of Investigation and
Security.
“The memo stated that the Police Department in China discovered
radio signals coming from Vietnamese territory containing the same
content about Falun Gong as heard on the ‘Sound of Hope’ radio
station,” the indictment reads. “It was recommended that all ...
activities of Falun Gong individuals in the Vietnam territory must
be attacked and stopped.”
For more information, see:
- The Epoch Times, November 10, 2011, "Vietnam Broadcasters Sentenced in Show Trial, Witnesses Say"
- Agence France Press, November 10, 2011, "Vietnam Falungong jailed over China broadcasts"
- Freedom House, November 10, 2011, "Freedom House Condemns Prison Sentences for Vietnamese Broadcasters"
- Reporters without Borders, November 10, 2011, "Vietnam: Two citizen journalists jailed for illegally broadcasting to China"
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
