Vietnamese media, together with the state-owned Tuoitre newspaper, reported that the Folks’s Court docket of Ho Chi Minh Metropolis sentenced political activist Tran Van Bang on Friday to eight years in jail and three years of probation for “spreading anti-government propaganda.” The sentence got here simply hours after Human Rights Watch (HRW) called upon Vietnamese authorities to drop all costs in opposition to Tran Van Bang.
The court docket convicted Tran Van Bang of “making, storing, distributing or propagating info, paperwork and supplies […] aimed toward opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Tran Van Bang allegedly used three Fb accounts to publish 39 articles opposing the Vietnamese Authorities, together with calling for a boycott of the election of Vietnamese Nationwide Meeting deputies. Ho Chi Minh Metropolis police arrested Tran Van Bang on March 1, 2022, and charged him below article 117 of the Criminal Code for criticizing the federal government.
Hours earlier than the court docket sentenced Tran Van Bang, HRW referred to as on Vietnamese authorities to instantly drop all costs and launch him. HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson disparaged Vietnamese authorities’ actions, stating, “Vietnam’s leaders present their weak spot, not their energy, by arresting, detaining, and prosecuting anybody who expresses important views concerning the authorities on the web. Tran Van Bang mustn’t face punishment merely for exercising the fundamental proper to freedom of expression.”
Tran Van Bang’s sentence follows the equally prolonged sentence of 6 years imprisonment that Vietnamese journalist and activist Nguyen Lan Thang obtained for his work reporting on human rights violations within the area. Like Tran Van Bang, human rights teams corresponding to Amnesty Worldwide, Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Shield Journalists referred to as on Vietnamese authorities to instantly and unconditionally launch Nguyen and to drop all pending costs in opposition to him.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
