A court in Vietnam on Tuesday handed down sentences to a couple arrested for broadcasting criticism of the ruling Communist Party on social media, according to a local news report.
The court sentenced Nguyen Thai Hung, 50, to four years in prison and his wife, Vu Thi Kim Hoang, 44, to two and a half years for “abusing democratic freedoms” through their YouTube channel.
Neither defendant had legal representation throughout the trial. Hoang alleged the police had intimidated them into forgoing counsel, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
“We could not debate much at today’s trial,” she told RFA. “Most of the time, they asked us yes-or-no questions. That was it. Because we did not have a lawyer, we did not have the right to speak.”…