International pressure mounted on Vietnam on Wednesday to uphold human rights when the EU raised the issue after the jailing of two musicians on charges of anti-state propaganda in the communist nation.
It is “crucial” for Vietnam to reaffirm “its commitments to reform including good governance, the rule of law and human rights”, visiting European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said in a press briefing with Vietnam’s leader Truong Tan Sang in Hanoi.
The normally uncontroversial Belgian added that he still retained faith in the “future of Vietnam”.
The US embassy in Hanoi on Tuesday also condemned the country’s muffling of freedom of expression, hours after two musicians joined dozens of other dissidents behind bars.
On Tuesday a court in the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City jailed musicians Viet Khang, 34, for four years and Tran Vu Anh Binh, 37, for six years after finding them guilty of “anti-state propaganda”.
“The Vietnamese government should release these musicians, all prisoners of conscience and adhere to its international obligations immediately,” said embassy spokesman Christopher Hodges.