Vietnam has again cracked down on criticism on Facebook. The Can Tho court on Friday, October 29, jailed five citizen journalists for “Abuse of democratic rights”. They were working on an online news page for citizen journalists.
Truong Chau Huu Danh, founder of the Bao Sach Facebook page (“The clean newspaper”), which publishes articles on hot social issues and corruption, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
The articles by Mr. Danh, a former journalist, contained “Reactionary thoughts, going to the bottom of things and not serving the interests of the country”the Vietnamese news agency said, citing court documents.
His four co-defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to three years.
A condemnation denounced by the United States
All five will be banned from working in journalism for three years after serving their prison sentence.
This verdict is the latest in a “Disturbing trend” to the detention of press workers and any citizen “Exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of the press”US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday.
“This group of journalists focuses on investigative reporting on corruption, which of course is not a crime”, he said in a statement. “The United States calls on the Vietnamese authorities (…) to release these five journalists and all those unjustly detained, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their opinions freely and without fear of reprisals. “
A tendency to stifle dissent
The Vietnamese administration’s hard line often acts quickly to quell dissent, jailing activists, journalists and any critics with large audiences on Facebook, which is widely used in the country.
In July, former radio journalist Pham Chi Thanh, also a well-known pro-democracy activist, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for posting information on Facebook.
Critics say the government has taken a much harsher approach to dissent since Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected as Communist Party leader after a secret congress held earlier this year. .
Vietnam occupies the 175e place out of 180 countries in the world press freedom ranking established by Reporters Without Borders in 2021.