Subversion trial opens for Vietnamese democracy activist who could face firing squad

Dissident goes on trial, could face death penalty

THAI BINH, Vietnam — Communist authorities in Vietnam put a former army officer who pressed for democratic reform on trial Monday on subversion charges that could carry the death penalty.

Tran Anh Kim, 60, is accused of “working to overthrow the state” by joining the Democratic Party of Vietnam, publishing pro-democracy articles on the Internet, and joining Bloc 8406, an organization that promotes a multiparty state.

The former lieutenant colonel is the first in a group of five defendants to be put on trial by Vietnam’s communist government, which does not accept challenges to its one-party rule.

The five were indicted last week under Article 79 of Vietnam’s criminal code, which carries sentences ranging from 12 years to life in prison — or death by firing squad.

Kim’s trial opened Monday morning in the northern province of Thai Binh. The other defendants, including human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, are scheduled to go on trial next month in Ho Chi Minh City.

As the proceedings began Monday, Kim said he had simply stood up for his beliefs.

“I joined the Democratic Party of Vietnam and Bloc 8406 to fight for democratic freedom and human rights for the Vietnamese nation through peaceful dialogue and nonviolent means,” Kim said.

Vietnam’s government routinely convicts and jails its political opponents, but it generally prosecutes them under Article 88, a lesser offense that prohibits spreading “propaganda against the state.”

Kim and the others were originally charged under Article 88.

Many diplomats believe the government decided to seek tougher charges as part of a crackdown in advance of the 2011 Communist Party Congress, which takes place every five years and is often preceded by jockeying for power by various party factions.

Foreign media and diplomats were allowed to follow Monday’s proceedings by closed-circuit television at the courthouse.

Kim fought in the Vietnam War and rose through the ranks to become a lieutenant colonel. He became deputy chief of the Thai Binh town military command but lost that post after being convicted of financial mismanagement in 1991.

He was jailed for two years, expelled from the Communist Party in 1992, and dismissed from the army in 1994.

In 2006, prosecutors say, he joined the Democratic Party of Vietnam, an outlawed group the government considers a “reactionary” organization. They say he became the head of the party’s organization in northern Vietnam.

Prosecutors also accuse Kim of working with “anti-government forces in exile,” saying he coordinated with them to publish anti-government documents online and organize anti-government demonstrations.

In June, police thwarted Kim’s effort to hang a sign at his house saying “Office of the Democratic Party of Vietnam.”

(This version CORRECTS criminal code number graf 4)