A Vietnamese lawyer representing two members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement says authorities have postponed his clients' trial on charges of illegally broadcasting into China.

Defense attorney Tran Dinh Trien said the postponement — the second in six months — was announced Thursday in a Hanoi courtroom, after people had gathered for the trial. Authorities gave no reason for the decision, and no new date was announced.

The defendants were arrested last year, reportedly at the request of China, where the Falun Gong and its mix of religious beliefs and meditation is banned. Earlier this year, the Falun Gong-controlled Epoch Times newspaper said the charges relate to shortwave broadcasts from a Hanoi radio station affiliated with the newspaper.

The case against the broadcasters prompted the U.S. government's Commission on International Religious Freedom to call for Vietnam to be returned to a list of countries that repress religious rights. Burma, China and North Korea are currently on that list, which makes them subject to economic sanctions.