The Hanoi People’s Court will bring independent journalist Nguyen Vu Binh to trial on September 10 on charges of “making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the Penal Code.
The above information was told by his sister, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phong, to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on August 28 as soon as she returned home from the city court headquarters.
She said she was only informed verbally about the trial schedule, but did not receive any written notice:
“The court clerk called me today. They said the trial will be on September 10. They only gave verbal notice, there was no written decision.”
Reporters could not connect with the Hanoi People’s Court to ask for information about Mr. Binh’s case.
Ms. Phong said that since his arrest, Mr. Binh has not been allowed to see his relatives. His family has only been able to send monthly gifts to Detention Center No. 1 of the Hanoi City Police, where he is being held for investigation.
After the four-month detention period expired at the end of June, the family was not notified by the police of an extension.
Ms. Phong said that she had signed a defense contract with lawyer Ha Huy Son for the upcoming trial, but Mr. Binh himself wanted legal assistance from another lawyer. The family is currently in contact with lawyer Le Dinh Viet to discuss the legal aid contract.
Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh, 56 years old, former editor of the Communist Magazine, was arrested on February 29 this year. One day before his arrest, Mr. Binh received a summons from the Investigation Security Agency – Hanoi City Police, to work on the live video clip broadcast program on the YouTube channel TNT Media Live that he participated in with lawyer Nguyen Van Dai from 2021 to June 2022.
This YouTube channel is owned by Radio Tiếng Nước Tôi based in San Jose, California (USA).
This is the second time Mr. Binh has been arrested. The first time, he was arrested in late September 2002 on charges of “espionage” for sending documents he had drafted and compiled, which were said to “contain distorted content about the situation of democracy and human rights in Vietnam to a number of reactionary organizations abroad so that these organizations could use them to slander and oppose our State.”
In this case, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was granted amnesty and released early in 2007. He then continued to participate in peaceful activities promoting human rights and democracy and contributed many articles to RFA’s blog.
For his peaceful activism, Mr. Binh was twice awarded the Hellman-Hammett Award by Human Rights Watch (HRW), in 2002 and 2007, an annual award given to writers who courageously confront political repression.
He is also an honorary member of four organizations: PEN USA, PEN Canada, PEN Switzerland, and PEN Sydney.
After his second arrest, RFA, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and PEN International called on Vietnam to release him.
(According to RFA)