HANOI –  A court in northern Vietnam has sentenced two activists to more than a decade in prison each for attempting to form a pro-democracy organisation, various media outlets report.

Tran Anh Kim and Le Thanh Tung were convicted of attempting to overthrow the communist government by setting up a “reactionary group in the name of national force for democracy” at a one-day trial in Thai Binh province on Friday.

67-year-old retired Lt. Colonel Kim was handed 13 years while 48-year-old ex-soldier Tung was sentenced to 12 years.

State-run online newspaper Vietnamnet reported they also must serve 4 years of house arrest after their prison terms end.

Tran Anh Kim has previously served a prison term of 5 ½ years for violating national security law.

Vo An Don, one of the two lawyers representing the defendants, told Radio Free Asia that the two men were innocent because they violated no Vietnamese law.

“They only planned to launch the association and had not officially organised or had any operation so their activities were not illegal,” he told RFA.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said in a statement Monday that he was “deeply concerned by the sentencing” and that “all people should have the right to freedom of speech and association.”

“The recent trend of arrests and convictions of peaceful activists is troubling and threatens to overshadow Vietnam’s progress on human rights,” he said.

He also called on Vietnam to release the two and all other prisoners of conscience and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their political views without fear of retribution.

– with other agencies