Vietnam cyber-dissident expected to face court

HANOI (AFP) - A detained Vietnamese cyber-dissident is expected to face trial soon, possibly as early as this week, for "abusing democratic freedoms," say relatives and overseas-based pro-democracy activists.

The mother of 25-year-old Truong Quoc Huy said her family had received a summons to attend his trial Monday afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City, but a court official who refused to give his name said the hearing had been postponed.

Vietnam's communist government has in recent weeks arrested several political dissidents and late last month sentenced one prominent activist, Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, to eight years' jail.

Huy, a mobile telephone technician, was first arrested in an Internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City in October 2005 after joining online discussions on democracy on the website Paltalk.com.

Detained with him were his brother Truong Quoc Tuan and Tuan's fiance Pham Ngoc Anh Dao, a US citizen also known as Lisa Pham.

The three spent nine months in detention without charge.

Six weeks after they were freed in July last year, Huy was again arrested at an Internet cafe, and his family has not heard from him since.

Huy's mother Chau Thi Hoang told AFP that her family had received papers last Friday summonsing them to the trial on Monday afternoon.

"They accused Huy of something like abusing democracy and saying bad things about the government," she said. "My son is innocent."

She said she did not known whether the trial would be postponed, adding that the court had scrapped an earlier hearing scheduled for March.

Hoang also said police had questioned her other son Tuan, that her telephone line had been disconnected and that "life is difficult for us because we are always being disturbed by the police."

Huy and a co-defendant identified as Huynh Tan Phat are accused of communicating with overseas-based activists and other offences, according to a newspaper published by the police and dissident websites.

Vietnam says it does not punish dissidents, only people who break its laws. In Huy's case the charge, article 258 of the criminal code, is "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state, the legitimate rights and interests of organisations and/or citizens."

Huy is charged with committing this offence "in serious circumstances, " which carries a jail term of two to seven years.

Agence France-Presse