A court in Ho Chi Minh City on May 8 sentenced defendant Phan Tat Thanh, 38, to eight years in prison under Article 117 of the Penal Code for “making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” state media reported. The prosecutors claimed that Thanh’s activity “constitutes a serious crime which threatens national security” and that “it is necessary to impose a harsh punishment to deter similar activities.”

Phan Tat Thanh is a pro-democracy activist and an administrator of a dissident Facebook fan page called Nhật ký yêu nước (A Patriot's Diary). The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department detained him in July 2023 and charged him with violating Article 117 of the Penal Code. However, his family said Thanh had no longer engaged in pro-democracy activism but focused on building his business.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that court officials allowed Thanh's parents into the courtroom. However, they rejected requests from foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, such as the Consulate General of Germany and the United States, to send representatives to observe the trial. Phan Tat Chi, Thanh’s father, said he was very frustrated since the sentence the court handed was higher than the recommendation of the Procuracy, which suggests between five to seven years of imprisonment.

Chi said that in his last words, Thanh pleaded not guilty and said that the investigators obtained his testimonies through forced confessions. However, the judge interrupted his speech and said, “This is not a forum for you to talk nonsense.”

Rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 7 called on the Vietnamese government to immediately drop all charges against activist Phan Tat Thanh and to release him, according to a statement sent to VOA News Vietnamese language service.

“Peaceful advocacy for democracy and human rights is not a crime,” said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Vietnamese government needs to immediately release Phan Tat Thanh and drop all charges against him.” Gossman called on the government to immediately release all those imprisoned or detained simply for expressing peaceful political views.