By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HAN NOI, Vietnam – On October 15th Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Viet Chien, a journalist for a well-circulated newspaper, to two years in jail. In 2006, Chien was one of two journalists who reported on a corruption scandal in the Ministry of Transport.  The scandal resulted in the resignation of the minister and the arrest of several high-ranking officials.

Chien maintained his innocence in court.  He stated, “With my journalist conscience, I can say I never have any other purpose in mind when writing my reports but exposing wrongdoing and fighting corruption.”

Last May, Chien and another prominent newspaper journalist, Nguyen Van Hai, who also reported on government corruption, were arrested. They were accused of “abusing freedom and democratic rights.”

Hai pleaded guilty after a two day trail.  In order to receive a lighter sentence, he accepted that he made “professional accidents” in his reports. The court freed Hai for “co-operating with investigators and showing remorse.” However, the court and sentence Hai to re-education camps for two years.

During the trial, prosecutors focused on the reporters’ conduct.  According to a leaked indictment, the reporters’ stories had “serious consequences, negatively affecting the ideology, morale and psychology of the public at a sensitive point of time,” referencing the 10th Vietnamese Communist Party Congress in April 2006.

The indictment also asserted that Nguyen Viet Chien and Nguyen Van Hai “exploited their position as journalists to write sensitive, false information… Hostile forces took advantage to attack and distort the Party Congress, negatively affecting the preparation of the congress.”

The verdict of the two trials received condemnation from abroad. The US embassy in Hanoi called the verdicts “disappointing” and Reporters Without Borders called the sentences “a terrible step backwards.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Vietnam Trial Tests Media Freedom – 14 October 2008

BBC – Vietnam Sends Journalist to Jail – 15 October 2008

BBC – Vietnamese Media Trial Condemned – 16 October 2008

International Herald Tribune – Vietnam Jails Journalists in Graft Reporting Trial– 15 October 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Newspaper Reporter’s Two Year Sentence Deals Severe Blow to Press Freedom – 15 October 2008