Kim will be also placed on probation in Thai Binh for another 3 years after serving in prison, the provincial people’s court said in its verdict delivered on December 28.

More than 30 local and foreign reporters attended the trial.

Kim, who was born in 1949 and lived in Tran Hung Dao ward, Thai Binh city, was prosecuted by the provincial people’s procuracy for taking part in activities in an attempt to topple the people’s administration.

According to the indictment, Kim registered to join the so-called Democratic Party of Vietnam wishing to change the political regime in the country. In June 2009, he was appointed Vice General Secretary of this organisation.

He also joined the outlawed organisation Bloc 8406, calling for struggles for democracy and human rights, aimed at bringing down the current administration.

He had since written stories and published them on the Internet, demanding a dismissal of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese state.

Kim admitted that he had many times answered the foreign media distorting the political situation in Vietnam and inciting extremist petitioners to cause socio-political disturbances.

The judge stated that this was a serious case which threatened national security and that it was no longer a case of Kim himself as it showed close collusion between local opposition organisations and overseas Vietnamese reactionaries living in exile to oust the people’s administration.