Vietnamese activist jailed for 14 years for live-streaming protest against steel plant’s pollution
The US$10.6 billion steel complex discharged toxins such as cyanide and phenol during a test run in April 2016, killing massive amounts of fish and other sea life along more than 200km of coastline
A court in central Vietnam sentenced an activist to 14 years in jail on Tuesday for live-streaming fishermen marching to file a lawsuit against a Taiwan-owned steel plant’s spill of toxins into the ocean.
Following a trial by the People’s Court in Nghe An province that lasted half a day Tuesday, Hoang Duc Binh was convicted of abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state, organisation and people and opposing officers on duty, lawyer Ha Huy Son said.
Fellow activist Nguyen Nam Phong was given 2 years in jail for opposing officers on duty.
During last February’s live-stream on Facebook, Binh commented that the fishermen were stopped and beaten by authorities. Son said Binh told the court that he made the comments, but he denied committing a crime because what he said was true.
The court said his comments were untrue and slandered authorities.