A freelance journalist in Vietnam has been handed a five-year prison sentence on charges of “taking advantage of democratic rights to act against the state’s interests” and “receiving money from abroad to support complaints against the state” under article 258 of the criminal code. He has 15 days to appeal.
A court in Vinh Thuan in the southern province of Kien Giang imposed the sentence Friday on freelance journalist Truong Minh Duc, acording to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
“Truong Minh Duc’s conviction without due process is indicative of the government’s relentless persecution of pro-democracy activists,” Paris-based RSF said. “His trial lasted only two hours and he was not allowed to be defended by a lawyer or even to defend himself. He is in poor health as a result of mistreatment in prison. We call on the government to free him at once.”
Born in 1960, and a member of the banned Bloc 8406 pro-democracy movement and the Vi Dan (Vietnam Party for the People), Duc was arrested on May 5, 2007. He sustained a fracture of the arm in January of this year that was not treated probably and his family says his health has deteriorated a great deal.
Duc has written many articles about corruption and abuse of authority for newspapers in Vietnam and abroad since 1994, writing under pseudonyms such as Hoang-Ha, Hoang-Thanh, Phuong-Nam, Quoc-Thang and Nam-Phuong. He also sent articles on the human rights situation in Vietnam to websites based abroad. The political police hounds dissidents relentlessly in Vietnam. Eight other journalists and cyber-dissidents are currently in prison.
