Vietnamese political activist Vi Duc Hoi has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment and five years’ house arrest on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda for publishing online articles advocating democratic governance. [AI] Article 88 of the Vietnamese penal code calls for imprisonment of between three and twenty years for various forms of anti-government propaganda, including “[m]aking, storing and/or circulating documents and/or cultural products with contents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. Penal Code of Vietnam, Art. 88(c). Hoi was arrested in October 2010, is a member of activist network Bloc 8406, and is among more than 30 Vietnamese activists serving prison sentences whom Amnesty International considers to be prisoners of conscience. [AI USA]