An internationally-recognised writer who is a prominent dissident went on trial in Vietnam Friday, adding to what the United States says is a "spike" in human rights issues in the country.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, born in 1960, is charged alongside her husband with assault but both testified they were innocent and had themselves been beaten.
 

After Thuy's arrest in October, the United States embassy said it was concerned that she "was beaten and arrested" after she publicly expressed support for a group of activists.
 

That group was tried and convicted in October for "propaganda against the state" related to the hanging of democracy banners and other calls for political reform.
 

A US diplomat and three other foreign emissaries were allowed to monitor Thuy’s trial but from a separate room over closed-circuit television. Some journalists were also permitted to watch the transmission.
 

"I hope that the trial will be held fairly [...] to prove that we are innocent," Thuy's husband, Do Ba Tan, told the court.

Injury charges
He and Thuy are accused of using a motorcycle helmet, a brick and a stick to beat two men during a parking dispute in Hanoi on 8 October, the prosecutor said, adding that one victim received head injuries.
 

They are charged with "intentionally inflicting injury", which can bring a jail term upon conviction.
 

Thuy rejected a confession she gave police, saying it "was made without supervision from my lawyer".
 

The lawyer showed the court photographs of what he said was Thuy's head bleeding after she was beaten.

Claims to attack
The writer and her husband said that, rather than being the aggressors, they were attacked by the alleged victims.
 

"Charging the victim of a beating with assault is yet another example of Vietnam’s Kafkaesque efforts to silence government critics," Brad Adams, Asia director at US-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on the eve of the trial.
 

Thuy, who spent several months in prison in 2007, is an honorary member of English PEN, a London based charity working to promote literature and human rights.
 

Source: AFP