THE dissident son of a Vietnamese revolutionary leader was convicted at a "sham" trial and should be freed immediately says Amnesty International.
In one of the communist nation's most politically charged cases in years, Cu Huy Ha Vu, 53, was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday for anti-state propaganda activities, including advocating an end to one-party communist rule.
"This was a sham trial, with the presumption of innocence and right to a defence completely ignored," Donna Guest, deputy Asia-Pacific director of London-based Amnesty, said today.
"Cu Huy Ha Vu is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released."
During the trial, which lasted about half-a-day, one of his lawyers was expelled and the other three walked out after objecting that the court had not made public 10 allegedly incriminating documents mentioned in the indictment.
The lawyers have challenged his conviction with a petition to the Supreme Court and other legal bodies.
The petition, seen by Agence-France Presse, argues that withholding the documents violated the law and prevented them from properly questioning Vu and arguing on his behalf.
Vu's father was a member of revered founding president Ho Chi Minh's provisional cabinet from 1945.
The French-trained legal expert was charged after twice trying to sue Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, over a controversial bauxite mining plan and a decree that prevented class-action petitions.
Amnesty also called for the release of two other dissidents who were arrested outside the court complex during Vu's trial, diplomatic sources said.
Pham Hong Son and Le Quoc Quan were detained amid unusually tight security in place for the hearing.
"Dozens of peaceful political critics and activists have been sentenced to long prison terms since Vietnam began a concerted crackdown on freedom of expression in October 2009," Amnesty said.
"Amnesty International is calling on the Vietnamese government to allow judicial independence, and to repeal or reform vaguely worded security legislation used to prosecute peaceful critics."
Vietnam has no "so-called prisoners of conscience," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.
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