HANOI: A court in Vietnam convicted two exiled pro-democracy activists living in Germany of anti-state activities on Wednesday (Dec 31), state media reported, sentencing them in absentia to 17 years each in prison.
Nguyen Van Dai (pic) and Le Trung Khoa were charged with "making, storing, distributing, or spreading information, documents, or items aimed at opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam", state media reported.
Both Germany-based dissidents were tried in separate cases Wednesday in the one-party state where all political parties besides the ruling Communist Party are banned and critics of the government are frequently jailed.
Dai, a lawyer and activist, has long been an outspoken critic of Vietnam's government and founded the Brotherhood for Democracy, a network of activists pushing for multi-party democracy.
He served a four-year prison term after a similar conviction nearly two decades ago and was sentenced to 15 years for attempting to overthrow the government in 2018.
However, he was released and flew to Germany, where he has continued to post commentary and videos critical of the government for his large social media following.
In Wednesday's trial, Dai was charged with having managed nine online accounts and channels to disseminate articles and videos "containing distorted and slanderous content against state, fabricating information and causing public unrest", state media quoted the indictment as saying.
A statement Dai posted on his Facebook account Tuesday called the proceedings "a farce of justice designed to silence critical voices".
In a separate trial at the same courthouse on Wednesday, journalist Khoa was also given a 17-year sentence for the same charge of anti-state activity.
Khoa is also living in Germany and, according to Vietnamese state media, had used his website to publish articles "attacking party and state leaders, distorting the situation on freedom of speech and media in Vietnam, and organising protests against Vietnam in Berlin".
The public security ministry's mouthpiece, the People's Police newspaper, in a commentary piece early this week urged authorities in Germany to "take measures to prevent individuals such as Le Trung Khoa and Nguyen Van Dai from exploiting German territory and resources to undermine Vietnam; and cooperate in extraditing or deporting these individuals to Vietnam for prosecution in accordance with the law".
AFP has contacted Germany's embassy in Hanoi for comment.
Relations between Germany and Vietnam were badly bruised in 2017 by a Cold War-style kidnapping of a fugitive Vietnamese executive from a Berlin park.
A German court convicted a Vietnamese man prosecutors said was a secret agent for taking part in the abduction, but Vietnam denied it was behind the plot.
More than 160 political and religious prisoners are currently behind bars in Vietnam, according to Human Rights Watch. - AFP
