Pro-democracy activist Father Nguyen Van Ly, 60, was found guilty and sentenced together with four other advocates of multi-party democracy in a swift, half-day trial in the central city of Hue. The priest -- who has been jailed three times since the 1970s for a total of 14 years -- was dragged into the courtroom in handcuffs and shouted angrily as a police officer hastily covered his mouth.
Ly was later ejected and sentenced while being held in a separate room. The trial drew condemnation from diplomats, Vietnam watchers and human rights groups for the one-party state that has gone to great lengths over the past year to boost its international prestige.
Prosecutors said Father Ly was a founding member of the banned “Bloc 8406” pro-democracy coalition, named after its April 8 launch last year, and also a driving force behind the outlawed Vietnam Progression Party (VPP).
The four other defendants, all declared members of the VPP, were given sentences from an 18-month suspended jail term to six years behind bars.—AFP