Vietnam puts another pro-democracy activist on trial

Tran Quoc Hien, 42, an attorney, went on trial in the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, just days after Vietnam sent five other dissidents to prison for up to 5 years for spreading propaganda against the state.

Hien was being tried on similar charges, and for disrupting security.

Like several of those convicted last week, Hien is accused of participating in Bloc 8406, an organization that wrote a pro-democracy manifesto and circulated pro-democracy petitions in Vietnam last year.

He is also accused of trying to organize anti-government demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City last fall during an international summit attended by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Western governments have decried the trials, saying that the dissidents were being punished simply for exercising their right to free speech.

The day before Hien's trial began, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement dismissing such criticism as groundless.

"As we have said time and time again, the Vietnamese government has always respected the rights to freedom and democracy, including the freedom of speech," the statement said.

"In Vietnam, no one is arrested due to their political or religious beliefs," it continued. "Only those who have breached the law are punished."

Vietnam's communist government does not tolerate challenges to its single-party rule.

Last week, Vietnam sent five pro-democracy activists to prison in two separate trials. They were accused of collaborating with overseas pro-democracy activists and trying to organize independent political organizations.

On Thursday, a Ho Chi Minh City court sentenced Le Nguyen Sang to five years in prison, Nguyen Bac Truyen to four years, and Huynh Nguyen Dao to three years.

One day later, a Hanoi court sentenced two human rights lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, to five years and four years, respectively.