Le Van Dung is one of numerous journalists imprisoned in recent months as the Vietnamese government tightens its grip on the media. This information is published by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Here is an excerpt:

The People’s Court of Hanoi convicted Dung in a two-hour trial on Wednesday, March 23, under Article 117 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials” against the state, and sentenced him to five years in prison and five subsequent years of probation, according to multiple news reports.  

The charges against Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova, stem from videos he made and posted online from March 2017 to September 2018, which the court ruled had defamed the Communist Party administration, those reports said.

Authorities have held Dung in pretrial detention since June 30, 2021, when he was arrested at a relative’s house outside of Hanoi after fleeing an arrest warrant for several weeks.

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