Freedom House calls for the immediate release of Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh, sentenced to 2-3 years in prison for broadcasting a radio program publicizing human rights abuses in China, including the persecution of Falun Gong, across the China-Vietnam border. The sentences come as a Vietnamese delegation is in Washington, DC for the U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, during which issues of deteriorating religious freedom, press freedom, and other human rights issues in Vietnam are to be discussed.
Two Vietnamese Falun Gong members will go on trial this week for broadcasting news on human rights abuses, protests, official corruption, and the persecution of Falun Gong members in China. Vu Duc Trung and his brother in-law Le Van Thanh were arrested by Vietnamese authorities in June of 2010 and their broadcasting equipment was confiscated for downloading and broadcasting programs into China from the Chinese-language version of “Sound of Hope” (SOH), a global radio station associated with the Falun Gong. If convicted, Trung and Thanh could face up to 5 years in prison.
