On January 8–9, 2013 a trial was held by the People's Court of Nghệ An Province, Vietnam for 14 democracy activists, primarily belonging to the Catholic church,[1] including high-profile blogger Paulus Le Son.
[9] Prior the trial, Dang Xuan Dieu was quoted saying "I have done nothing contrary to my conscience", and that in punishing him, the government was "trampling on the eternal good morals of the Vietnamese nation.
The slogan has been used to support the case in the Paracel and Spratly Islands disputes that the archipelagoes belong to Vietnam, a claim that the Vietnamese government actually endorses.
"[4] 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.
"[5] Reporters Without Borders quickly emerged and stated that it is "appalled at the groundless verdict handed down yesterday by a court in northern city of Vinh" and that it is the position to prove his innocence.
"[25] In a press release by Amnesty International the organization says that "the conviction and heavy sentencing [...] flies in the face of justice and is part of an escalating government crackdown on freedom of expression.
[28] A statement by US Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez says "the final product of an unjust criminal justice system in this subversion case was a verdict of 100 years imprisonment forced upon 14 patriots.
"[29] Other human rights organizations have called this the "largest subversion to be brought in years" in Vietnam[5] Many other organizations have called for an immediate release of the defendants including the Amnesty International,[26] Electronic Frontier Foundation,[30] English Pen,[31] Human Rights Watch[5] On January 4, 2013, Allen Weiner, the director of the Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law at Stanford Law School, filed an updated to a previous petition submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva contesting the illegal arrest and detention of the defendants.