Update | Vietnam court upholds 30-month jail term for dissident lawyer Le Quoc Quan

One of Vietnam’s most prominent dissidents lost his court appeal on Tuesday against imprisonment for tax evasion, as dozens of supporters protested outside the court against the communist state’s crackdown on dissent.

Scores of police encircled the Hanoi People’s Court of Appeals, which after a half-day trial upheld a 2 ½-year jail sentence for Catholic lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan, whose conviction in October was condemned by the United States and denounced by rights campaigners as politically motivated.

“The defendant did not show regret and took a disrespectful attitude towards the court,” said court president Nguyen Van Son, confirming the jail term and a fine of around US$57,000.

His lawyer Ha Huy Son quoted judges as saying they found no new evidence, and that the conviction by the intermediate court was well founded.

The lawyer said Quan maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

“I told the court that the case should not be criminalised, but should be resolved through administrative procedures instead,” Son said in a telephone interview. “But the court rejected my arguments.”