The two-day session, which concluded on Oct. 9, sentenced Nguyen XuanNghia to six years in prison, Nguyen Van Tuc to four years, Nguyen VanTinh and Nguyen Manh Son each to three and a half years, Ngo Quynh tothree years and Nguyen Kim Nhan to two years.
All the six defendants will also be kept under surveillance for betweentwo and three years at their residential localities after serving theirjail terms.
According to the indictment, Nghia, born in 1949, together with hisaccomplices, hung up banners and distributed leaflets on the Lach Trayflyover in Hai Phong city and Lai Cach flyover in neighbouring HaiDuong province.
They then took photos and authored writings containing distorted andslanderous information on the government and uploaded them to theinternet.
These defendants, excluding Quynh, also compiled, stored and disseminated documents with anti-Vietnamese State content.
They frequently sent writings to foreign websites that distorted theVietnamese Party and State’s policies, crying out for a pluralist andmultiparty government, and undermining the Party’s leadership. Theirwritings incited opposition, defamed the administration, and causedharm to national security and social order.
Nghia alone, as from 2007, joined the provisional representative boardof Bloc 8406, a reactionary organisation set up by Nguyen Van Ly andPhan Van Loi.
From 2007 up to his arrest, Nghia authored 57 writings that distorted and smeared the Vietnamese Party and State.
Tinh, Tuc and Son were also the authors of a number of writings sent toreactionary websites. Tinh was previously sentenced by the Hai PhongPeople’s Court to seven years’ imprisonment for participating in theestablishment of a reactionary organisation in 1966.
The court was attended by representatives from the embassies of the US, Sweden, and Australia in Vietnam, and reporters from internationalnews agencies such as Reuters of the UK, AFP of France and DPA ofGermany./.