The acting US consul general, Hale VanKoughnett, declined to comment. Vietnam’s ministry of foreign affairs did not respond to a request for comment. A US state department official said in an email that the consulate was in daily contact with Nguyen’s family, while a consular official will be present at the trial on Friday. Officials from the US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as Nguyen’s Vietnamese lawyers, have been able to meet with him as the trial nears. However, Tran said prosecutors planned to charge Nguyen under a separate provision, claiming that he was “inciting others to be violent and disruptive”.Īccording to Tran, this can carry a prison sentence of up to seven years. On 12 July, six Vietnamese nationals received sentences of 18 months to two years under charges of disturbing public order for their actions during protests in Binh Thaun province, on the south-central coast. Vi Tran, a lawyer based in Taiwan who focuses on human rights in Vietnam, said the charges so far filed against Nguyen could see him fined or facing community service or a jail term of up to two years. Last week, formal charges were filed against Nguyen, and the Vietnamese government announced that he would go to trial on 20 July. His only public appearance in the weeks since was a confession aired on national TV on 18 June.
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