Prohíben a soldados chinos tener blogs

A French-educated democracy activist could face the death penalty if convicted at a trial expected in Vietnam late this month, his father said on Thursday.

Nguyen Tien Trung, 25, was arrested in July along with several others, including human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, and accused of anti-state activities.

Trung was arrested for “propaganda against the state”, which carries a prison term on conviction. But he is now facing the more serious charge of “subverting the people’s administration”, his father said.

Ivan Peregorodiev, a 22-year-old medical student and blogger, has been arrested on December 3 for spreading rumors about pneumonic plague in the city of Saratov. Authorities accused him of disseminating false information related to an act of terrorism.

On December 2, the Russian bloggers actively discussed allegations that a large population of Saratov had been infected with H1N1 virus. The rumors said that authorities concealed many fatalities caused by the swine flu and the whole city was about to be closed for quarantine. Later, people started talking about alleged cases of pneumonic plague blaming them on a local “anti-plague” research institute. The situation became so serious that Saratov Governor Pavel Ipatov interrupted his visit to Belarus and returned to the city to deal with public outcry.

NEW YORK – A New Jersey blogger crossed the line protecting free speech by writing that three federal judges in Chicago “must die” for a decision supporting gun control, a prosecutor said Friday, as the defense countered in closing arguments that giving a passionate opinion is not a crime.

“There is no right to threaten violence against people,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ridgway. The judges, he added, “received that threat just by virtue of doing their jobs.”