Thursday, February 27, 2025 - A court in Vietnam on Thursday sentenced a leading independent journalist to 30 months in prison over Facebook posts that criticised the government, state media said.
Truong Huy San, 63, whose pen name is Huy Duc, was convicted for posting
13 articles on Facebook which caused "a negative impact on social order
and safety", state-run Vietnam News Agency said in a report.
The report said San pleaded guilty at the trial. Reuters could not
immediately reach his lawyers for comment.
Despite sweeping economic reforms and increasing openness to social
change, Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and
tolerates little criticism.
San, who was arrested in June last year, is a former soldier and the
author of "The Winning Side," a book about postwar Vietnam which is
banned in the country. Before the trial, Reporters Without Borders, the
Committee to Protect Journalists, and PEN America had all called on the
government to release San.
"When an author and journalist like Truong Huy San is silenced,
it's not just his voice that is stifled. It's the right of an entire society to
seek truth and accountability," PEN America research and advocacy manager
Anh-Thu Vo said in a statement two weeks ago.
"When an author and journalist like Truong Huy San is silenced,
it's not just his voice that is stifled. It's the right of an entire society to
seek truth and accountability," PEN America research and advocacy manager
Anh-Thu Vo said in a statement two weeks ago.
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