Well-known blogger will face trial

A well-known blogger could serve up to 20 years in prison if he is prosecuted in a trial this week on charges of conducting propaganda against the state.

The trial of Hai Van Nguyen, or blogger Dieu Cay "the peasant's pipe," was set to begin April 17. Hai's family chose two lawyers to defend him before court, Thanh Nien News reported. According to other stories in the paper, Hai and two other bloggers were accused of founding the Independent Journalists Club, banned by the government in 2007.

Four hundred twenty-one articles were published on the club's website from September 2007 to October 2010, and 26 had anti-state messages. Two other bloggers with the site were accused of conspiracy to overthrow the government in Vietnam.

Amnesty International described the prosecution as “blatant and unjust” and called the Vietnamese government to release the blogger “immediately and unconditionally."

According to a report on BBC news, Hai was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 30 months in jail on tax fraud charges. He was imprisoned without trial and held even after his sentence ended.