Jakarta: Six Vietnamese rights activists, including a prominent human rights lawyer arrested way back in 2015, will finally appear in the People’s Court of Hanoi on Thursday.

The six men, including Brotherhood for Democracy co-founder and lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, have been charged with "carrying out activities that aim to overthrow the people’s administration".

The Brotherhood for Democracy offers legal assistance to activists in Vietnam and agitates for democracy, greater religious freedoms and human rights in Vietnam.

Vietnam has undergone sweeping social change in recent years, with the size of the middle class growing and the economy increasingly open to the world. It is an increasingly close partner of Australia, the United States and some other ASEAN countries as a strategic balance to China's rise.