Read this story in Vietnamese: Nhà báo Nguyễn Vũ Bình sẽ bị đưa ra xét xử sơ thẩm vào ngày 10/9
Independent journalist and contributor to Radio Free Asia’s Vietnamese Service Nguyen Vu Binh will stand trial on Sept. 10 for appearing in streamed videos with exiled human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, his family told RFA.
Binh, 56, arrested on Feb. 29, has been charged with “creating, storing, disseminating, or propagating information, materials, items, and publications against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, which rights groups have said is vaguely written and often used punish journalists and silence dissent.
Binh’s sister Nguyen Thi Phong revealed the trial date to RFA Wednesday after returning home from the Hanoi People’s Court.
"The court secretary called me in today,” she said. “They said the trial would be on Sept. 10. They only informed me verbally and did not provide any written documents.”
RFA could not reach the Hanoi People’s Court for information about Binh’s case.
One day before Binh’s arrest, the Security Investigation Agency summoned him regarding live streams he did with Dai in 2021 and 2022 on the YouTube channel TNT Media Live, owned by San Jose, California-based radio station Tieng Nuoc Toi, or “My Country’s Language.”
Dai, a lawyer and pro-democracy activist, has resided in Germany since 2018 when he was exiled there two months into a 15-year sentence for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.”
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In an earlier case, Binh was convicted of espionage in 2002 and sentenced to seven years, but released early in 2007 as part of an amnesty order.
Following that release, he continued to participate in peaceful activities promoting human rights and democracy and contributed articles to RFA’s blog.
Since his arrest, Binh has not been allowed to see his relatives, and his family has only been able to send monthly supplies for him to the detention facility holding him in Hanoi, his sister said.
His pretrial detention period is supposed to have expired at the end of June, but police have not informed the family of an extension, she said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch presented Binh with the Hellman-Hammett Award twice, in 2002 and 2007, for writers around the world “who have been victims of political persecution and are in financial need.”
In response to his second arrest, RFA, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International PEN organization called for his release.
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.