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CYBER-DISSIDENT SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON
8 November 2002
Secrétariat international Asia Pacific Desk
Reporters Without Borders condemned today¹s jailing for four years of cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang for publishing
criticism of the government on the internet.
"Even if your government persists in abusing the basic rights of its citizens, we appeal to you to free Le Chi Quang
because he is seriously ill," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to justice
minister Uong Chu Luu. During his trial, the journalist appeared in a very weak state and face was swollen. His family
said he had kidney problems that prison officials had refused to treat.
Ménard said that Le Chi Quang had simply been exercising his right to free expression, as guaranteed by the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which had been ratified by Viêt-nam.
Le Chi Quang was sentenced to four years in jail, followed by three years of house arrest for "opposing the socialist
republic of Vietnam" under article 88 of the penal code which forbids publication of material criticising the
government.
During his trial in Hanoi, which only lasted three hours, the right to a defence was not respected and foreign reporters
were barred from the courtroom. Only his relatives were allowed to be present. His mother said he had admitted the facts
of the case but rejected the accusation against him. She said an appeal would be made against this "unjust verdict."
Nearly 100 people, including dissidents, gathered outside the courthouse in protest and one of them was reportedly
arrested.
The 32-year-old Le Chi Quang, who teaches computers and also has a law degree, was arrested on February 21 in a
cybercafé in Hanoi and sent to prison camp B14 in the northern province of Ha Dong.
His case file includes several of his articles deemed "unlawful," including one called "Beware of the empire to the
north" which was posted on the Internet. The very detailed article discussed Viêt-nam¹s signing of secret border
agreements with Beijing since 1999.
Two other cyber-dissidents are in prison in Vietnam. One of them, Pham Hong Son, was arrested on 29 March for
translating and posting of the Internet an article called "What is democracy?" while Nguyen Vu Binh, who wrote for the
magazine Tap Chi Cong San, was arrested on 25 September for posting other material on the Internet.
Tran Que, a literature teacher and founder of a group campaigning against corruption, has been under house arrest since
10 March after he posted on a website a letter sent to Chinese President Jiang Zemin about the China-Vietnam border
agreements.
+++niuswire
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