The household of a Vietnamese political dissident say it took every week for them to search out out the end result of his trial, which passed off with no protection lawyer.
Le Anh Hung was sentenced to 5 years in jail on August 30 after spending greater than 4 years in a psychological hospital and on remand.
The blogger was tried on the cost of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the pursuits of the State, organizations and people,” underneath Article 331 of the Felony Code.
“Just lately, I referred to as the police officer investigating my son’s case to ask about it. He mentioned my son was tried on August 30. I requested what number of years [the sentence was]. He mentioned 5 years,” Hung’s mom Tran Thi Niem advised RFA.
The Hanoi police investigator additionally advised Niem that, after subtracting greater than 4 years in a detention heart and a psychiatric hospital, “he’ll most likely be launched subsequent yr.”
RFA referred to as the cell variety of the Hanoi Metropolis Police investigator who dealt with the case, however nobody answered.
Our reporter additionally tried to name the Hanoi Individuals’s Court docket utilizing the telephone quantity listed on the company’s web site however the line was all the time busy.
The state-controlled press has made no point out of the trial.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng, from the Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Bar Affiliation, signed a contract to supply authorized help to Hung, however Hung later waived his proper to a lawyer after his household had a “monetary disagreement” with Mieng.
“Hung had a doc permitting him to refuse a lawyer after he received out of the psychological hospital,” Mieng mentioned. “I had solely met him as soon as so the safety investigators advised me to not proceed.”
Mieng was not knowledgeable concerning the trial since he was not the dissident’s protection legal professional.
Hung, born in 1973, was a blogger for Voice of America, specializing in writing about politics in Vietnam.
He’s a member of two civic organizations that aren’t acknowledged by the Vietnamese authorities: The Unbiased Journalists Affiliation of Vietnam and the Brotherhood for Democracy. The 2 organizations have been suppressed prior to now few years and dozens of members have been despatched to jail with prolonged sentences.
Hung was arrested on July 5, 2018 after sending lots of of petitions to a wide range of central businesses accusing then-Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai of smuggling and spying for China.
In April 2019, the investigating company despatched Hung to the Central Institute of Forensic Psychiatry forcing him to be handled for an alleged psychological sickness. Throughout that point his household say he was drugged and abused.
In Might this yr, after greater than three years of compelled psychiatric therapy, the police company introduced Hung again to Detention Heart No. 1 underneath the authority of the Hanoi Police Division to await his trial
Instantly after information of his arrest, Amnesty Worldwide issued an announcement condemning the transfer and saying the Vietnamese authorities was utilizing harsh legal guidelines to silence peaceable critics.
Because the starting of the yr, Vietnam has sentenced no less than 21 bloggers and activists. Ten of them had been convicted of “abusing democratic freedoms” with sentences starting from one to 5 years in jail.
