Foreign
A Hanoi people’s court in Vietnam on Friday sentenced a high-profile former journalist Pham Chi Thanh to five and a half years in prison for anti-state propaganda.
Ha Huy Son, the defendant lawyer said the sentence also includes five years in house arrest at a closed-door trial.
“He was charged for making, storing, disseminating or propagandising information, materials and products that aim to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,’’ Son said.
Thanh rejected the indictment, saying he did not break the law, adding that the court took note of his words but did not accept his defence.
The retired journalist, who worked for the Voice of Vietnam, regularly expressed his support for democracy.
He openly criticised the communist party and the government over corruption concerns and wrongdoings.
He quit the communist party after 41 years, saying it maintained a dictatorship and lacked democracy.
In 2019, Thanh published a book including a collection of writings that criticised party chief Nguyen Phu Trong for being too close to China.
“During 2019, so many people praised Mr Trong for his doings so I tried to criticise him to see how things were going,’’Thanh said at the trial.
John Sifton, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said that Thanh the defendant was among a long list of Vietnamese dissidents prosecuted for nothing more than their written words.
According to him, there are no allegations that he has committed a recognisable offence under international human rights law.
“Vietnam is a communist state of 96 million people that right groups criticise for being intolerant of dissent and regularly detains social media users for posting anti-state content, ’’ Sifton said. (dpa/NAN)
– July 9, 2021 @ 14:18 GMT |
Tags: Vietnam sentences former journalist for anti-govt propaganda
