CPJ condemns harsh prison sentences handed to 5 journalists in Vietnam
Bangkok, November 1, 2021 – Vietnamese authorities should immediately release
five journalists recently sentenced to prison terms for alleged anti-state
crimes, and cease persecuting members of the press, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today.
On October 28, a court in the southern city of Can Tho convicted Truong Chau Huu
Danh, Doan Kien Giang, Le The Thang, Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao, and Nguyen Thanh
Nha under Article
331 of
the penal code, an anti-state provision that criminalizes “abusing democratic
rights and freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state,” according to news reports.
The court sentenced Danh to four years and six months in prison; Giang and Thang
to three years each; and Bao and Nha to two years each, those reports said.
The journalists all worked for Bao Sach (Clean Newspaper), a Facebook-based
independent news outlet that the court ruled published distorted information and
defamed the government, according to those reports and CPJ’s
coverage.
The Facebook page, which covered alleged government corruption and was
deactivated following Danh’s arrest in December 2020, had more than 10,000
followers, as CPJ documented at the time.
“The sentencing of journalists Truong Chau Huu Danh, Doan Kien Giang, Le The
Thang, Phuoc Trung Bao, and Nguyen Thanh Nha to years in prison is another gross
assault on the free press in Vietnam,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior
Southeast Asia representative. “Authorities should allow the five to appeal
their sentences, ensure they are released on appeal, and stop using bogus
anti-state provisions to prosecute journalists.”
The October 28 ruling also banned all five from working as journalists for three
years after serving their sentences, reports said.
CPJ emailed the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security for comment, but did not
immediately receive any response. CPJ could not immediately determine whether
any of the journalists planned to appeal their convictions.
CPJ’s latest prison census found
that Vietnam held at least 15 journalists behind bars for their work as of
December 1, 2020, making it the second-worst jailer in Asia.
[Home] [About us] [Bills of Rights] [Documents] [H R Reports] [VNHR Awards] [HR Forum] [Links]
|