AFP: Vietnam court upholds blogger’s jail term

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court

HANOI (AFP) — An appeals court in communist Vietnam on Thursday upheld a blogger’s two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for tax fraud in a case media watchdog groups have said was politically motivated.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court confirmed the September verdict and sentencing of Nguyen Hoang Hai, who uses the weblog name Dieu Cay and is a member of the online Free Vietnamese Journalists Club.

“After several hours of debate with his lawyers, the court upheld the first instance sentence of two-and-a-half years imprisonment for Nguyen Hoang Hai on the charge of tax fraud,” court official Phan Tanh told AFP.

Hai — who has taken part in anti-Beijing demonstrations about a sensitive sea territory dispute with China — was arrested in April, days before the Olympic torch passed through the southern city, formerly called Saigon.

“The authorities are trying to silence this blogger,” said media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a statement before the hearing.

“Dieu Cay should be freed at once,” said the Paris-based group which has called the weblog writer a “cyber-dissident.”

“We call on the foreign embassies in Vietnam to defend free expression by urging the Vietnamese government to release him.”

RSF said that, according to Hai’s son, he had been under close police surveillance since joining street demonstrations early this year against China’s claim over the Spratly and Paracel Islands.

The protests backed the government stance that the islands belong to Vietnam, but they also embarrassed the leadership which received a stern rebuke from China for allowing the rare street protests to take place.

“The police are harassing his family, his property has been seized and close colleagues have been threatened and arrested,” the RSF said.

Vietnam will issue new rules against “incorrect information” on blogs this month, state media reports said this week, quoting government officials.

The regulations aim “to create a legal base for bloggers and related agencies to tackle violations in the area of blogging,” said Information and Communication Deputy Minister Do Quy Doan, according to the Thanh Nien daily.

The ministry “will contact Google and Yahoo! for cooperation in creating the best and the healthiest environment for bloggers,” he reportedly added.

AFP: Vietnam court upholds blogger’s jail term

Vietnam sentences Chinese woman to death

The Associated Press

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

HANOI, Vietnam: A Chinese woman convicted of leading a major counterfeiting ring in Vietnam has been sentenced to death, a judge said Wednesday.

Guo Jin Hua, 65, of Guangxi province in southern China, was convicted of transporting and circulating fake Vietnamese dong worth US$285,000 at the end of a ten-day trial Tuesday in Tien Giang province, judge Tran Ngoc Quang said.

Along with Guo, a Vietnamese accomplice was sentenced to life in prison and 35 others were given jail terms from two years to 23 years on the same charges, he said.

Guo told the court that the counterfeit money was made in Taiwan and transported to Vietnam via China.

The ring was uncovered in June last year after operating for nearly two years.

Few foreigners have been sentenced to death in Vietnam, where about 100 people each year get the death penalty, many for drug-related offenses.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/01/asia/AS-Vietnam-China-Money-Counterfeiting.php

Vietnam court jails nine for sex with juveniles

Hanoi – A Vietnamese court in the central province of Binh Dinh sentenced nine people to prison terms for having or arranging paid sex with juveniles as young as 14 years old, a court official said Tuesday. “This is the most serious case relating to sex with juveniles ever in our province,” said judge Le Xuan Hai of the Quy Nhon City People’s Court in Binh Dinh.

He said all nine of the accused had confessed. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to seven years.

Three men, businessmen Tran The Vinh, 47, and Le Van Yen, 56, and post office accountant Nguyen Van Ngoc, 55, were sentenced to seven years each for paying for sexual intercourse with a total of 24 teenagers ranging from 14 to 17.

According to the indictment, Ngoc patronized a restaurant frequented by sex workers who introduced him to Le Thi My Loan, a sex broker who arranged liaisons with the teenagers.

Ngoc brought in his friends Vinh and Yen. The liaisons occurred between 2005 and 2008, with the customers paying at least 150 dollars for each encounter.

Six other teenagers, between ages 17 and 19, received sentences of two to five years in prison for acting as agents to connect the three men and teenage sex workers.

Under Vietnamese law, having sexual intercourse with more than one juvenile under the age of 16 is punishable by 12 years to life imprisonment. Paying for sexual intercourse with juveniles under 18 is punishable by up to five years in prison, as is acting as a broker to manipulate juveniles into engaging in paid sex against their will.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/234764,vietnam-court-jails-nine-for-sex-with-juveniles.html