HANOI: A well known Vietnamese journalist who documented protests and human rights violations in the communist-operate country was sentenced to six yrs in jail Wednesday, his lawyer said.
Nguyen Lan Thang, an activist and freelance author who is very well-acknowledged in Vietnam for his criticism of the authorities, was convicted of spreading “anti-condition propaganda” in the one particular-day, shut-doorway trial in Hanoi.
His lawyer, Nguyen Ha Luan, advised AFP that the journalist experienced also been sentenced to two a long time probation.
Vietnam has strict curbs on independence of expression and the federal government moves swiftly to stamp out dissent and arrest critics, specially people who find an viewers on line. Impartial media is banned.
Thang, 47, was arrested at his home in Hanoi in July very last year and has been denied common spouse and children visits because then, according to his kinfolk.
Born into a perfectly-recognised household, he noted on a assortment of challenges, defending human legal rights and liberty of faith, and supporting land legal rights petitioners.
He traveled to web sites of pressured land confiscation to movie the authorities’ use of excessive power and also participated in lots of professional-environment protests, in accordance to Human Rights Enjoy.
Thang wrote far more than 130 site entries, the legal rights group stated, quoting him as stating that he preferred to “aid expose and demythologize points for popular people, so they dare to stand up and demand their rights”.
In an open up letter to judges in the case, Thang’s moms and dads wrote that the indictment had “surprised” them.
“We feel… speaking out from inadequacies and injustice, and standing for vulnerable individuals is not a ‘crime from the government’.”
“He is a patriot with duties toward society,” they added.
Prior to the verdict, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Strategies Ming Yu Hah called for the fees to be dropped.
“Nguyen Lan Thang’s demo exhibits that the Vietnamese authorities are silencing all those generating material considered ‘unfavourable’ as they find to ensure subservience to the condition.
“His absence of ample accessibility to a attorney and family visits are a even further stain on a deeply flawed and unfair trial.”
The sentencing will come more than a 12 months following Pham Doan Trang, a higher-profile dissident journalist, was specified 9 many years guiding bars in the authoritarian state.
Most not long ago, in March, activist Truong Van Dung was sentenced to six a long time in jail, also for spreading “anti-condition propaganda”.
Nguyen Lan Thang, an activist and freelance author who is very well-acknowledged in Vietnam for his criticism of the authorities, was convicted of spreading “anti-condition propaganda” in the one particular-day, shut-doorway trial in Hanoi.
His lawyer, Nguyen Ha Luan, advised AFP that the journalist experienced also been sentenced to two a long time probation.
Vietnam has strict curbs on independence of expression and the federal government moves swiftly to stamp out dissent and arrest critics, specially people who find an viewers on line. Impartial media is banned.
Thang, 47, was arrested at his home in Hanoi in July very last year and has been denied common spouse and children visits because then, according to his kinfolk.
Born into a perfectly-recognised household, he noted on a assortment of challenges, defending human legal rights and liberty of faith, and supporting land legal rights petitioners.
He traveled to web sites of pressured land confiscation to movie the authorities’ use of excessive power and also participated in lots of professional-environment protests, in accordance to Human Rights Enjoy.
Thang wrote far more than 130 site entries, the legal rights group stated, quoting him as stating that he preferred to “aid expose and demythologize points for popular people, so they dare to stand up and demand their rights”.
In an open up letter to judges in the case, Thang’s moms and dads wrote that the indictment had “surprised” them.
“We feel… speaking out from inadequacies and injustice, and standing for vulnerable individuals is not a ‘crime from the government’.”
“He is a patriot with duties toward society,” they added.
Prior to the verdict, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Strategies Ming Yu Hah called for the fees to be dropped.
“Nguyen Lan Thang’s demo exhibits that the Vietnamese authorities are silencing all those generating material considered ‘unfavourable’ as they find to ensure subservience to the condition.
“His absence of ample accessibility to a attorney and family visits are a even further stain on a deeply flawed and unfair trial.”
The sentencing will come more than a 12 months following Pham Doan Trang, a higher-profile dissident journalist, was specified 9 many years guiding bars in the authoritarian state.
Most not long ago, in March, activist Truong Van Dung was sentenced to six a long time in jail, also for spreading “anti-condition propaganda”.
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