Hanoi – from www.monstersandcritics.com – The trial of a group of former students accused of running Vietnam’s largest and best-known pornographic website was due to begin this week in Ho Chi Minh City, a court official said Monday.

Vu Phi Long, deputy president of Ho Chi Minh City’s Criminal Court, said the group consisted of Nguyen Tang Truong, 26; Lam Duong Hieu, 29; Nguyen Do Cong, 30; and Tong Hoang Anh, 57. The four were reportedly members of the website’s management board.

They face charges of disseminating debauched cultural products.

‘However, they have good records, so the court will consider reducing sentences for them,’ Long said.

The Thanh Nien newspaper on Monday quoted the court’s indictment as saying the website www.mocxi.com opened in 2006, billing itself as a forum to educate young people on how to have a healthy sex life. It allegedly evolved into a pornographic site and was also used to exchange information about prostitutes.

Alexa Internet Inc, a service that provides web traffic data, ranked it 84th among the 100 most-visited websites in Vietnam.

Police shut down the website in November last year. More than 20 students aged 20 to 30 were arrested around the country. Authorities decided to prosecute 12.

The case starting Friday involves the four defendants accused of being the most important members of the website team. The remaining eight defendants are to be tried after police finish their investigation, the online newspaper Dan Tri reported.

According to Vietnamese law, anyone who makes, circulates or sells pornographic material may be fined up to 30 million dong (1,700 dollars) and sentenced to 15 years in prison.