A Vietnamese court sentenced dissident Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly to eight years in prison for anti-government activities, after a dramatic trial yesterday in which a defiant Ly shouted denunciations of the Communist Party.
A judge at Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court in central Vietnam sentenced Ly on charges of disseminating anti-government documents and communicating with pro-democracy activists overseas. It was the first time a high-profile dissident's trial has has been opened to reporters.
Authorities said Ly, 60 -- who has been jailed twice before for his pro-democracy activities -- was plotting to merge his Vietnam Progression Party with overseas democracy activists.
Ly was brought handcuffed into the courtroom at the start of the trial, along with four co-defendants.
In a striking outburst of defiance in a country where dissent is harshly punished, Ly shouted denunciations of Vietnam's Communist Party during the trial.
A police officer quickly covered Ly's mouth during his first outburst, and removed him to a nearby room where proceedings were broadcast on a loudspeaker. Ly was later brought back, but he refused to answer prosecutors' charges against him.
"The Communists use the law of the jungle!" he shouted, before being removed again.
In sentencing, Judge Bui Quoc Hiep said Ly deserved "severe punishment" for masterminding efforts to boycott Vietnam's upcoming legislative elections, establish unsanctioned political parties and overthrow the government.
Hiep said Ly and his co-defendants had committed "very serious crimes that harmed national security."
Prosecutors had earlier said Ly told police that he "worked day and night" to produce anti-government materials.
"Father Ly turned his bedroom into the headquarters of political parties opposing the government," one of the prosecutors said during sentencing arguments. "His actions were extremely dangerous and violated national security."
Authorities allowed limited press coverage of the trial, a highly unusual move in a country where judicial proceedings against political defendants are typically conducted behind closed doors. About a dozen reporters and foreign diplomats watched the proceedings on a closed-circuit television in a separate room of the courthouse.
The sound was cut briefly when Ly shouted.
Last month, authorities moved Ly from his home in the central city of Hue, where he was under virtual house arrest, and took him to a smaller parish outside the city.
They seized hundreds of documents, six computers and 136 mobile phone cards, and much of that evidence was on display at the front of the courtroom yesterday.
The court sentenced four co-defendants who were accused of being Ly's accomplices.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS