By An Nguyen, RFA
A Vietnamese court has ordered seven farmers jailed for up to 22 months on charges of disturbing public order after they resisted land grabs to make way for urban development projects in their village.
A group of farmers from a district on the outskirts of Hanoi protest the loss of their land outside a government office in downtown Hanoi, Aug. 29, 2012. (AFP)
They were arrested in March and April in Duong Noi village, about 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) southwest of the capital Hanoi, for preventing police from enforcing the land seizures.
The court on Tuesday sentenced two of them — Tran Van Mien and Tran Van Sang — to 22 months and 20 months in prison, respectively, while the other five were sentenced to between six and 18 months in jail last week.
Tran Thu Nam, the lawyer who defended Mien and Sang, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that there were no legal grounds on which to charge them.
“The evidence in the file is the testimony of witnesses, but their words were all contradictory,” he said, adding that the jury did not accept his arguments when he pointed out the discrepancies.
“I think this is a case of injustice,” he said.
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