Vietnam Releases Pro-Democracy Activist

Jun 11, 07:52 AM

Current Headlines: Vietnam says it has released a journalist jailed in December 2002 for publishing pro-democracy essays on the Internet.

The country confirmed Sunday Nguyen Vu Binh, a former journalist for the Communist Party's magazine, was released from Ba Sao prison Saturday -- more than two years before his scheduled release, the Voice of America reported Monday.

Binh was arrested in December 2002 and was sentenced one year later to seven years imprisonment.

Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian National Defense University, said the release is apparently tied to Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet's upcoming visit to the United States, which had sharply criticized Vietnam's recent actions against pro-democracy activists.

The Vietnamese aren't making the connection, but there obviously is one, Thayer said.

Thayer said the United States had been planning to postpone Triet's visit unless his government made concessions on the issue.

It was very clear that unless some action was taken, that it would be inconvenient, I think was the expression, to receive Triet at this time, he said. Which would have meant a postponement until next year, at least, and real embarrassment for the Vietnamese.