|
Vietnam releases rights lawyer from jail: familyAFP HANOI -- Vietnam on Wednesday released from prison a prominent human rights lawyer who served more than three years of a five-year jail sentence for trying to overthrow the regime, his family said.
February 7, 2013, 12:03 am TWN βHe was freed before Tet (Lunar New Year) and because his mother's health is poor,β said Dang Ngoc Anh, the sister-in-law of lawyer Le Cong Dinh, 44. Dinh, who had been detained since June 2009, was one of four democracy activists convicted in January 2010 at a daylong trial in southern Ho Chi Minh City that was was condemned by human rights groups and the European Union. Dinh's sentence also included three years of house arrest after his release from prison, and in Vietnam prisoners usually still have to serve their period of home detention when they are freed from jail early. Dozens of activists have been jailed since Vietnam β a one-party state that forbids political debate β began a new crackdown on free expression in late 2009.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||