Pham Chi Thanh and his wife Nguyen Thi Nghiem before his arrest. (Photo supplied)
A court in Hanoi has jailed a dissident writer who used to work for a state-run radio station for satirizing government leaders.
On July 9, the People’s Court of Hanoi City sentenced Pham Chi Thanh to five-and-a-half years in jail for "making, hoarding, disseminating and spreading information and documents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," under the Penal Code’s Article 117.
Thanh, who used to work as an editor at the state-controlled radio station Voice of Vietnam until he was sacked for writing articles criticizing China in 2007, will serve five years’ probation after finishing his jail term. He was also fined 18 million dong (US$782) for selling his book The thien hanh dao hay dai nghich bat dao (Holder of the mandate of heaven or great immoral traitor).
The 69-year-old dissident writer, who was arrested in May 2020, was accused of distributing 220 copies of his book to readers in Vietnam and abroad. His self-published book includes his posts that allegedly "distorted information and vilified the people’s government that caused social concern."
Lawyer Ha Huy Son, who defended Thanh at the court hearing lasting two-and-a-half hours, said the prosecution was inappropriate as his client’s writings had only satirized President Nguyen Phu Trong, while security agencies and the procuracy equated the president with the state, which was entirely baseless.
Son said the investigating agency failed to collect any evidence showing that the defendant caused public concern and his posts aimed at opposing the government.
General Secretary Trong did not sue him and was not present to be confronted with him at the court. Why was my husband sentenced?
Thanh’s wife Nguyen Thi Nghiem said she, her daughter and his supporters were prevented from entering the court by security officers and had to stand in front of the court building during the trial.
Nghiem, who was briefed on the trial by the lawyer, said she does not deny the sentence but stated that “my husband is always innocent as he only exercised his civil rights to freedom of press, expression and approaching information stated by the constitution.”
She said Thanh told the judge that his writings did not oppose the government but aimed at criticizing individuals and making the country better.
“He was jailed for his dissident views,” she said. “General Secretary Trong did not sue him and was not present to be confronted with him at the court. Why was my husband sentenced?”
Before Thanh’s trial, John Sifton, Human Rights Watch’s Asia advocacy director, said: “Pham Chi Thanh is among a long list of Vietnamese dissidents prosecuted for nothing more than their written words. There are no allegations that he has committed a recognizable offense under international human rights law.”
He said Thanh appears to be in ill health and was detained for more than a year without legal counsel. “The Vietnamese authorities have no plausible justification for jailing him, and never did. He should be released and allowed to return to his home and family.”
The communist-ruled Southeast Asian country bans all independent media outlets and is ranked 175th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2020 World Press Freedom Index.