DHAKA: A young Vietnamese activist went on trial on Tuesday for "abusing democratic freedoms" with a series of angry Facebook posts, in an escalation of the communist regime`s crackdown on online dissent.

Dinh Nhat Uy, 30, appeared in court in the southern province of Long An on charges related to an Internet campaign against his brother`s imprisonment for spreading anti-government propaganda.

"He is accused under article 258 of the penal code of having abused democratic freedoms against the interests of the state," Uy`s lawyer Ha Huy Son told AFP quoted in straitstimes.

The charge, regularly used by authoritarian Vietnam to silence dissidents and activists, carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Source: straitstimes
BDST: 1123 HRS, OCT 29, 2013
SR/BSK