Vietnamese Lawyer Sentenced to Three Years for Criticizing Judge on Facebook

Vietnamese Court Sentences Former Lawyer to Three Years in Jail for Facebook Posts

A Vietnamese court sentenced prominent former lawyer Tran Dinh Trien to three years in jail on Friday, January 10th, for Facebook posts deemed to undermine the state by criticizing a leading judge.

Trien, the former deputy head of the Hanoi Bar Association, is the latest high-profile lawyer targeted by authorities for online expression. Rights groups claim that authorities in communist Vietnam have intensified their crackdown on civil society and used the law to silence government critics.

The Hanoi court convicted the 65-year-old Trien of "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon state interests" and sentenced him to three years in prison. The court stated that his personal Facebook posts contained "unauthenticated content" that "affected the reputation of the courts and the chief judge of the supreme court personally."

Trien, head of the Vi Dan "For the People" legal firm in Hanoi, was arrested in June and had his legal license suspended last week. He previously defended activists and represented clients on sensitive issues like land confiscation.

The three Facebook posts in question were uploaded in April and May 2022. According to Human Rights Watch, Trien criticized the chief justice of the supreme court for preventing defendants' family members from attending trials and journalists and lawyers from recording video during open trials.