Asia-Pacific News

Ethnic-minority villagers sentenced on political charges in Vietnam

Nov 16, 2010, 10:50 GMT

Hanoi - A court sentenced two ethnic minority villagers in Vietnam's Central Highlands to prison terms of four and six years for 'undermining national unity,' court officials said Tuesday.

The men, members of a Christian denomination known as the Dega Christians, were convicted of planning anti-government demonstrations last year. They had allegedly received instructions from a colleague living in the United States.

The court said both had confessed.

The Central Highlands have large populations of ethnic minorities, many of whom belong to unofficial Christian churches. Political and economic tensions exploded into demonstrations in 2001 and again in 2004, followed by mass arrests and repression, according to some international human rights groups.

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