Anti-corruption journalist jailed in Vietnam
A Vietnam journalist has been jailed for two years after reporting on a state corruption court case
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Wednesday, 15, Oct 2008 09:06
A Vietnam journalist has been jailed for two years after reporting on a state corruption court case.
Along with reporter Nguyen Viet Chien, a senior police officer was imprisoned for a year for providing information to the media.
Three years ago Chien, 56, attempted to unveil details of the case which centred on a transport ministry unit whose officials had allegedly wasted foreign aid on gambling and living glamorous lifestyles.
Initially the allegations resulted in an anti-corruption crackdown in Vietnam and the country received international plaudits for allowing the state-controlled media seemingly unprecedented freedom.
However, in May of this year, two journalists, Chien and Nguyen Van Hai, 33, were arrested.
Today they were found guilty of "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state".
Prosecutors claimed the journalists' reports contained errors and bias and tainted the country's officials and communist Vietnam itself.