Six-year sentence after three-hour trial - but the case goes unreported in Vietnam

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Vietnamese journalist was found guilty of spying for China on Wednesday (30 September) and sentenced to a six-year jail term by a Hanoi court after a three-hour trial, his lawyer told Reuters.

Ha Huy Hoang, who had worked for a government-run magazine, was jailed on a charge of colluding with a Chinese spy. His lawyer, Ha Huy Son, said he would appeal.

Hoang, 55, was arrested in October 2014 and accused of supplying information and material about Vietnam’s economy and its leaders to the Chinese government.

Issues related to China are highly sensitive in Vietnam, where the ruling communist party shares close but rocky ties with Beijing.

The countries have been engaged in a lengthy dispute over sovereignty of the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea, reported Australian News. Last year, Vietnam complained about the stationing of a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters.

Thursday’s Vietnamese newspapers did not report the case. Prominent news outlets Tuoi Tre and VNExpress had posted online reports at the start of the trial but they were later removed without any explanation.

Prior to its removal, Tuoi Tre’s article said Hoang had visited China six times and was providing information to a spy, said to be a Chinese journalist, whom he had met in 2009.

Hoang had denied espionage and said, believing the spy to be a fellow journalist, he had simply shared information already in the public domain.

Sources: Reuters/Australian News