Vietnamese activist charged

Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities have charged a well-known human rights lawyer and his associates with subversion, a charge that could carry the death penalty, state news media reported Wednesday.Prosecutors accused Le Cong Dinh of "working to overthrow the state," a more serious charge than they had initially sought, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.Dinh is likely to go on trial within the next two weeks, along with Nguyen Tien Trung, who recently studied engineering in Paris, and Ho Chi Minh City businessmen Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and Le Thanh Long.When they were arrested in June, police accused Dinh of spreading anti-government propaganda, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.Prosecutors maintain that the four were members of the Vietnam Democratic Party, a U.S.-based group that Vietnam's communist government considers a "reactionary organization."A fifth defendant, Tran Anh Kim, is to be tried separately in the northern province of Thai Binh.Dinh was also accused of participating in a three-day training course for nonviolent struggle organized by Viet Tan, a California-based pro-democracy group that Vietnam considers a terrorist organization.The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi has said there is no evidence to suggest that Viet Tan is a terrorist group.Dinh, one of Vietnam's most well-known lawyers, represented two human rights attorneys who were jailed by the government in 2007 on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda. At their trial, he made an impassioned defense of free speech.He studied law at Tulane University in New Orleans on a Fulbright scholarship and has served as vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City bar association.The United States and the European Union have called for Dinh's immediate release.
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