Vietnam jails prominent activist for 5 years on anti-state charges, lawyers say

Vietnam jails prominent activist for 5 years on anti-state charges, lawyers say

A Vietnamese court sentenced prominent activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen to five years in prison after finding him guilty of anti-state activities in a one-day trial on Thursday, two of his lawyers said.

Tuyen, 50, had participated in environmental and anti-China protests, voiced support for other jailed activists, and wrote about Vietnam's socio-political issues on his social media accounts.

The conviction is the latest in what rights groups say is the government's wide-ranging attempt to silence voices critical of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party, which maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent.

Vietnam's government has dismissed allegations it targets dissenting voices and says it is prosecuting law-breakers.

Tuyen was convicted of "making, storing or distributing information, materials, documents to oppose the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" after the one-day trial in Hanoi, according to his lawyers.

"Tuyen didn't plead guilty at the trial because he thought he hadn't done anything wrong," said one of his lawyers, Le Dinh Viet, adding that Tuyen will decide whether to appeal the verdict within the next 15 days.

Ahead of Thursday's trial and sentencing, Human Rights Watch had called on authorities to drop all charges against Tuyen and release him immediately.

"Vietnam's authorities have targeted Nguyen Chi Tuyen for expressing views they don't like," said Patricia Gossman, its deputy Asia director.

"The government should stop jailing peaceful critics, repeal its draconian penal laws, and end the systematic violation of basic rights," she said.

Following Tuyen's arrest in March, the Ministry of Public Security in a statement said "there is no such thing as a prisoner of conscience, and there is no such thing as people being arrested for freely expressing their opinions in Vietnam."