Vietnam jails dissident writer over attack

A Vietnamese writer and democracy activist has been jailed for three and a half years for attacking two men during a parking dispute in Hanoi.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and her husband, Do Ba Tan, had denied the charges, saying they had been the victims of the attack and not the perpetrators.

Thuy is a known critic of the government and has publicly expressed her support for democracy campaigners.

Rights groups have accused the authorities of trying to silence her.

The Hanoi court sentenced Thuy to 43 months in prison, including time served since October.

'Total slander'

Tan was given a two-year suspended sentence and 47 months under probation.

Prosecutor Nguyen Nhu Quynh said the couple's actions "were of a hooligan nature and harmed the health of others".

The couple were accused of using a motorbike helmet and bricks to attack two men in an argument over a parked motorcycle in October last year.

One of the men was said to have had a head injury after the incident.

But the defence said there was no evidence to support the allegations and Thuy said the charges were "a fabrication and total slander".

"I protest this trial and I did not come here to suffer this," the AFP news agency quoted her as saying.

She was removed from the courtroom after her angry outburst and was not present to hear the verdict.

'Kafkaesque'

Defence lawyer Tran Vu Hai had told the court the couple "consider themselves victims in this matter", said AFP.

After the verdict was announced, he told the BBC he had not been given enough time to present his argument and the judge had not considered all the evidence.

He said Tan would appeal against the verdict but he did not expect Thuy to do so.

The trial was heavily criticised by rights groups, who said it had been orchestrated in an attempt to silence Thuy.

"Charging the victim of a beating with assault is yet another example of Vietnam's Kafkaesque efforts to silence government critics," said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

At least 16 democracy activists have been jailed in recent months, in what some analysts say is a crackdown ahead of the next Communist Party Congress scheduled for early 2011.