Vietnam jails nine ethnic minority people for staging anti-government protests
A court in Vietnam's Central Highland sentenced nine people for up to 13 years in jail for staging anti-government protests and organizing an exodus of refugees to neighboring Cambodia, a court official said Tuesday.
The defendants, all members of Ede ethnic minority group, were convicted of "undermining the state policy of national unity" and given jail sentences ranging from eight to 13 years at the end of the two-day trial last week in Daklak province, said the provincial People's Court official on condition of anonymity.
They were charged with organizing anti-government protests during last year's Easter weekend and facilitating an exodus of refugees to neighboring Cambodia, he said.
The convicted have 15 days to appeal their sentences.
During last year's Easter weekend, tens of thousands of Christian ethnic minority people went down to the streets in Daklak and neighboring Gia Lai province to protest the government's restriction on their religious faith and the confiscation of ancestral land.
International human rights groups claimed at least 10 members of ethnic minority groups died in clashes with police, but Hanoi said only two were killed by rocks thrown by other protesters.
Hundreds of ethnic minority people have since crossed borders into Cambodia.
Dozens of members of ethnic minority groups have been given hefty jail terms for organizing the protests or subsequent exodus of refugees to Cambodia.
The Associated Press - July 05, 2005.
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