The government is prosecuting San under Article 331 of the penal code, which outlaws “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the State,” according to multiple news reports. He could face up to seven years in jail if found guilty.
“Vietnamese journalist Truong Huy San was exercising, not abusing, his democratic freedoms in his independent reporting on Vietnam’s Communist Party-dominated politics, and he should not be punished for doing so,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “These wrongheaded criminal charges should be scrapped and San should be freed unconditionally now.”
San, a well-known political commentator and author also known by his pen names Huy Duc and Osin, was arrested by police on June 1, 2024, in the capital, Hanoi, while traveling to an event where he was scheduled to speak. He has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest. CPJ could not confirm if a date has been set for the case to be heard in Hanoi People’s Court.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, which manages the nation’s prisons and authorizes police to make political arrests, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
Vietnam was tied with Iran and Eritrea as the seventh worst jailer of journalists worldwide, with at least 16 reporters behind bars on December 1, 2024, in CPJ’s latest annual global prison census.
