A JOURNALIST and prominent critic of the Vietnamese government who wrote about issues including corruption, land rights and the environment was set to face trial in Hanoi on propaganda charges.
Nguyen Vu Binh – a political activist who served almost five years in jail in the early 2000s – is accused of producing propaganda against the state.
If convicted at the Hanoi People’s Court, the 55-year-old faces up to 12 years in prison under article 117 of the criminal code.
“Nguyen Vu Binh has tirelessly campaigned for human rights and democracy in Vietnam,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“His peaceful expression of political dissent is not a crime,” Gossman added, calling for Binh’s immediate release.
Binh had spent a decade as a journalist at the Communist Party of Vietnam’s journal.
He had been imprisoned between late 2003 and June 2007 on the charge of espionage.
Binh twice received a prestigious Hellman/Hammett grant, given to victims of political persecution, in 2002 and 2007. — AFP
