A Journalist, Nguyen Vu Binh, who writes about corruption and current issues was jailed for seven years by a Vietnam Court on Tuesday.
The 55-year-old journalist was arrested on February 29, 2024, for expressing views critical of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Nguyen was charged with conducting propaganda against the state under Article 117 of the penal code.
Hanoi court therefore sentenced Nguyen Vu Binh to a seven-year jail term after the case hearing which was held on Tuesday.
Nguyen Vu Binh is a political activist who has been tirelessly campaigning for human rights and democracy in Vietnam for more than two decades. He has a record of being jailed for almost five years in the early 2000s.
Following the trial in Hanoi, his sister, Nguyen Thi Phong, told AFP, “He was given seven years in jail.”
Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch says. “His peaceful expression of political dissent is not a crime and the case against him should be dropped.”
At the trial, he told the court he was innocent, saying “I did not call on anyone to act against the state, I was only exercising my right to freedom of speech.”
The Vietnamese authorities should immediately drop all charges and release the prominent blogger Nguyen Vu Binh, Human Rights Watch says.
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