Huy Duc worked for an influential state-run newspaper before writing a popular blog that was critical of the country’s leaders.
Vietnam’s leading independent journalists and book authors have been sentenced to 30 months in prison for Facebook posts that are critical of the government.
Following the trial, which lasted only a few hours, a court in Hanoi, the capital, has convicted 63-year-old Huy Duc for “violating democratic liberties on the interests of the state” by posting 13 articles on Facebook.
“These articles have numerous exchanges, comments and stocks that have a negative impact on social order and safety,” read the indictment cited by the Vietnam News Agency.
Huy Duc worked for an influential national newspaper before writing one of Vietnam’s most popular blogs and Facebook accounts. He criticized the country’s communist leader for issues such as corruption, media management and relations with China.
Huy Duc, whose real name is Truong Huy San, is a former senior Army middle schooler.
He was fired from the provincial news outlet in 2009 to criticize past actions by the Soviet Union, a former communist ally of Vietnam.
In 2012, Huy Duc spent a year at Harvard University in a Neiman Fellowship.
Overseas, the winner’s side has been published, explaining his life in Vietnam after the end of the war with the United States.
His conviction comes months after blogger Duon Van Ty was jailed for 12 years on charges of releasing hostile information.
He has almost 120,000 followers on YouTube, where he regularly recorded live streams critical of the government.
In January, a well-known former lawyer was also jailed for three years for a Facebook post.
Shortly before his arrest in June, Huy Duc set his sights online on Vietnam’s new and powerful leader and his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong. It is unclear whether the fees are related to these specific posts.
Vietnam, a one-party province, has no free media and is working hard with dissent. According to the Border (RSF) press freedom campaign group, this is one of the world’s top jailers for journalists.
The RSF previously stated that his article is “an invaluable source of information that will allow Vietnamese public to access information censored by the Hanoi regime.”
Rights campaigners say the government has intensified its crackdown on civil society in recent years.
In December, Vietnam enacted new online rules requiring Facebook and Tiktok to verify user identity and hand over data to authorities.
Under “Order 147”, all high-tech giants operating in Vietnam must verify their user accounts by phone number or Vietnamese identification number and store that information along with their name and date of birth.
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