A Vietnamese blogger who was reportedly abducted from Thailand last year has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, according to local media reports.
Duong Van Thai was charged with posting articles on social media accounts that defamed the government, and allegedly tried to incite people to participate in disruptive activities, according to the news website of Ha Tinh province.
Thai was arrested April 14, 2023 for “illegally entering” Vietnam from Laos without identification papers, according to a statement on the website of the Ha Tinh provincial police.
A representative for Thai was not immediately available for comment.
After completing his sentence, Thai will be under mandatory supervision for three years, the Hanoi People’s Court ruled after a closed trial, according to the VietnamPlus news website.
Thai regularly posted YouTube livestreams that criticised Vietnam’s authoritarian government, accusing it of corruption.
State media said he also ran a Facebook group that published “distorted information” about the private lives of Vietnamese leaders.
He resurfaced in Vietnamese custody last year after disappearing from Thailand where he had fled in 2019 and been granted refugee status. Human Rights Watch accused Vietnam of kidnapping him.
A friend of Thai said he “would never have [voluntarily] returned to Vietnam”.
She said witnesses told her they had seen two white sedan cars block his motorcycle, one from the front and one behind, as he left his residence in Pathum Thani on April 13, 2023, the last time he was seen in Thailand.
