London – A Vietnamese court has upheld the nine-year sentence of award-winning journalist and activist Pham Doan Trang, rejecting his appeal against the December 2021 decision.
In October 2020, Trang, who has written extensively about human rights abuses and police brutality in Vietnam, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for “making, storing or disseminating information, materials and products aimed at opposing the state.” Vietnam Ministry of Public Security.
Although the journalist denied all charges, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced him to nine years in prison for “publishing anti-state propaganda”. On 25 August the appeal was rejected.
Conviction of Vietnamese journalist sparks worldwide protests
Trang, 44, is one of four female journalists detained in Vietnam, which ranks 175th in the press freedom rankings out of 180 countries listed by Reporters Without Borders.
He has written several books and helped found independent media outlets, including the law journal Luta Khoa and the California-based English-language website The Vietnam, of which he is one of the editors.
She is the recipient of the US Secretary of State’s Women of Courage Award and the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Award.
In addition to working in the press, he founded the environmental group Green Trees, which denounced environmental abuses and arrested several activists.
Captured at his home in Ho Chi Minh City on October 6, 2020, the journalist was held in isolation for more than a year until October 19, 2021, when he was transferred to a detention center to await trial.
He was sentenced by a Hanoi court on 14 December after being detained for 434 days.
One of the five most imprisoned journalists in the world, according to Reporters Without Borders, he received a longer sentence than the prosecution had requested, an unusual result even by the standards of the country’s authoritarian regime.
Protests came from organizations such as Amnesty International, which described the decision as “scandalous”, and the US State Department, which said in a statement it “did nothing but peacefully express its opinion”.
Trang appealed, alleging that December’s case did not follow proper legal processes. According to reports, he was interrupted several times during the first case.
On August 25, the Hanoi People’s Court dismissed Trang’s allegations and ruled that his actions were “dangerous to society”.
The US State Department again opposed approving the sentence.
According to the memo, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Trang’s arrest in September 2021 was arbitrary and that Vietnam violated international human rights commitments.
“We observed reports of Trang’s deteriorating health and urged Vietnam to provide adequate medical care and allow access to assess his medical condition.”
Vietnamese journalist isolated
Trang has not been allowed to see his family since his arrest in 2020.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement that according to Trang’s lawyer, Dang Dinh Manh, the journalist suffered from a number of health problems, including sinusitis from Covid-19 infection and a knee injury he acquired. During the 2015 protest in Hanoi.
“Journalists and media professionals are regularly persecuted by Vietnam’s judicial system,” the IFJ accuses.
Journalist Le Trong Hung, who was sentenced to five years in prison in April this year for posting videos on social media, also lost her appeal.
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Earlier this week, the IFJ warned, Vietnam’s National Assembly announced a new regulation that allows authorities to fine journalists for recording court proceedings without permission from the courts.
“The treatment of journalists and media workers by the authorities in Vietnam is characterized by persecution.
Vietnam’s judicial system must do more to protect freedom of speech and the press.”
Among the awards Pham Doan Trang has received is the 2019 RSF Press Freedom Award. He has become “a role model for countless young freedom-loving Vietnamese activists,” according to the organization.
In a letter he wrote in May 2020 anticipating possible arrest, he said that his own freedom was of little importance and that his detention should serve to draw attention to its purpose:
“I don’t want freedom for myself, it’s too easy. No, I want something bigger – freedom for Vietnam.”
Last June, the journalist was one of those selected to receive the Martin Ennals 2022 human rights award in Geneva.
The organizers made a video about its trajectory, highlighting one of their sentences:
“I write because I really want to write and I hope I can help them change their minds. [os governantes] about society.
If a country’s institutions are faulty, it creates a bad political culture and undermines people’s values. I want to change these institutions so that the Vietnamese people can live the life they deserve.”
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source: Noticias
