Vietnam charges Falun Gong broadcasters

A court in Hanoi, Vietnam, was due to try two men on Friday for broadcasting information to China about the Falun Gong spiritual movement, a media watchdog said, according to M&C.

Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh were arrested for operating an unauthorised shortwave radio station, Reporters Without Borders said.

The Paris-based organisation said it had learnt that the Chinese government 'successfully pressured' Vietnamese authorities to arrest the two for broadcasting in Chinese from a farm outside Hanoi.

Vietnam, in prosecuting the two of them, is caught between the conflicting demands of a Chinese regime that has sought to 'eradicate' the practice of Falun Gong for almost 12 years and an international community concerned about possible violations of freedom of the press and freedom of conscience, writes The Epoch Times.

The official indictment, obtained by The Epoch Times, indicates that the two were arrested at the urging of the Chinese regime.

Last week, media watchdog and human rights groups, with Reporters Without Borders and the Falun Dafa Information Centre publishing articles about their case, championed the plight of Trung and Thanh.