Two Vietnamese members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement face trial in Hanoi for allegedly broadcasting spiritual programming into China, where the movement is banned as a cult.
The U.S.-based Epoch Times newspaper and website, the official voices of the Falun Gong movement, describe the two suspects as the head of a high-tech company in Hanoi who also practices Falun Gong, and a relative of the executive. It says the charges against the duo stem from short wave broadcasts from a Hanoi radio station affiliated with the newspaper.
Defense lawyer Tran Dinh Trien told the French news agency his clients should not have been charged under Vietnam's criminal code for a minor offense. He said his clients were arrested in June 2010 following what he said was a request from Beijing to crack down on the broadcasts. The duo was set to face trial Friday, but Trien said the proceedings have been postponed to an unknown date.
Falun Gong mixes religious beliefs with breathing exercises and meditation. China banned it in 1999.
Tuesday, the U.S. government's Commission on International Religious Freedom called on President Barack Obama to return Vietnam to a list of countries subject to economic sanctions because of its severe suppression of religious rights. Other nations currently on the list of “Countries of Particular Concern” include Burma, China and North Korea.
The commission issued its call in response to the trial and seven-year prison sentence handed down Monday to Vietnamese legal scholar and rights activist Cu Huy Ha Vu.
Vu, who has defended various dissidents including Roman Catholics, was convicted on charges of conducting propaganda against the state, and conducting acts considered dangerous to society. He had angered party leaders in 2009 and 2010 for filing lawsuits against Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, charging that his policies violated environmental laws and the constitution.
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