[3][5] Four of them, Dau Van Duong, Tran Huu Duc, Chu Manh Son, and Hoang Phong had already been tried, allegedly for distributing pro-democracy leaflets[6] and sentenced under Article 88 to two to three years in jail.
[18][19] They were accused of maintaining ties with Viet Tan,[7] a US-based pro-democracy organization to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means.
[20][21] The verdict was announced by Judge Tran Ngoc: All of them were sentenced to 3–13 years in prison on charges violating Clause 1 of Article 79 of the Vietnamese criminal code for organizing "to attempt to overthrow the government".
[10] On 3 October 2011, Bob Bietz, CPJ's Asia program director stated, "With these arrests, Vietnam now ranks among the worst jailers of journalists in the world.
Davis stated, "I call on my colleagues to stand side-by-side with these brave individuals and raise their voice in demanding that the Government of Vietnam release all prisoners of conscience and uphold their commitment to human rights for all.
"[24] On 12 March 2012, Media Legal Defence Initiative and eight other NGOs issued a joint letter to the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung calling for the immediate release of bloggers Dang Xuan Dieu, Ho Duc Hoa, Nguyen Van Duyet, Nong Hung Anh and Paulus Le Son.
"It's absolutely shameful that the Vietnam government is putting these Catholic activists on trial, and may send them to prison for years for nothing more than expressing their views and distributing leaflets", said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
[26] Following the 2013 trial, Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, condemned the arrest and calls for the "convictions to be squashed immediately".
"[18] Phil Robertson, the deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, also followed up with "this was the largest group to be brought to trial together in recent times.