Widely criticized these last months for its human rights policy, Vietnam is to try another three dissidents Wednesday -- all relatives of a Catholic priest currently serving a 10-year sentence.
Two nephews and the niece of Father Tadeus Nguyen Van Ly are to appear in court Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City, Amnesty International said Friday.
Nguyen Thi Hoa and her brothers Nguyen Vu Viet and Nguyen Truc Cuong are accused of "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens," for their efforts to contact US-based opponents to the communist government and to send information about their uncle.
Father Ly, 57, was placed under house arrest in March 2001 after providing written testimony to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom a month earlier.
The priest was sentenced to 15 years in jail in October 2001. In a move seen as a try to appease human rights critics, a court in northern Ha Nam province reduced the sentence to ten years in July of this year.
Charges against his relatives have been reduced from "espionage," which carried a minimum 12-year penalty, to the new charges, which could send the three to jail for from two to seven years.
The change is also seen as an attempt to bolster Vietnam's image while at the same time silencing dissent.
In addition to slashing Father Ly's sentence, authorities released the country's best-known Buddhist dissident, Thich Quang Do, in June -- two months ahead of schedule -- from house arrest.
And in August, they reduced from 13 years to five the sentence imposed on cyber-dissident Pham Hong Son due to "mitigating circumstances."
These actions, a Western diplomat in Hanoi said, show Vietnam wants to set a balance between "internal political needs and their wish to show the international community that things are improving."
"It is still unacceptable," he added.
Another diplomat suggested that the new charges filed against Ly's relatives are signs that outside pressure is working.
"The [Vietnamese authorities] will save face by giving them low sentences. And they could even release them later for `humanitarian' or`good behavior' reasons," he hoped.
Pressure has mounted on Vietnam these last several months against his poor human rights record.
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