Vietnam: Blogger's heavy conviction condemned by NGOs

Blogger Truong Duy Nhat during his trial in Hanoi, March 9, 2020. Vietnam News Agency / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

NGOs denounced this Tuesday March 10 "a new attack on freedom of expression" in Vietnam, the day after the sentencing to ten years of prison of a blogger of Radio Free Asia. Truong Duy Nhat, 56, was convicted in a land fraud case, according to state media. He had already been convicted in 2014 for "propaganda against the state".

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This condemnation " is totally unacceptable, " reacted in a statement, Daniel Bastard, manager of the Asia-Pacific office of Reporters Without Borders. Truong Duy Nhat is paying " the price of his professionalism since he obviously had valuable information, " he added, asking for " his immediate release ."

After working for the official media, Truong Duy Nhat had developed his own blog and collaborated regularly with Radio Free Asia, funded by the United States Congress. The journalist had already been sentenced in 2014 for " propaganda against the state ".

Leak in Thailand and reappearance in prison in Vietnam

In January 2019, he fled to Thailand to apply for refugee status with the United Nations Refugee Agency. Radio Free Asia and his family then lost contact with him. Two months later, he reappeared in a Vietnamese prison. The communist regime never provided any explanation for the circumstances of his return.

Vietnam ranks 176th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders ranking, with media entirely controlled by the state. Since the arrival in power in 2016 of a new conservative executive , the country has multiplied arrests and convictions .

A new law, adopted in 2018, largely restricts freedoms on the Internet . It obliges web platforms to remove within 24 hours all comments considered by the regime as a threat to " national security ", and to store personal information and user data, in order to transmit them to the authorities as soon as necessary.

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  • Vietnam
  • Human rights
  • Freedom of press

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