[ti:Vietnam Sentences Journalist to 15 Years] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A Vietnamese court sentenced journalist Pham Chi Dung [00:05.48]to 15 years in prison on Wednesday. [00:10.36]He had been found guilty of making [00:13.60]and spreading "propaganda against the state." [00:19.28]Dung, who has written for the Voice of America Vietnamese-language website, [00:25.36]is the president and founder of the Independent Journalist Association of Vietnam. [00:33.64]The organization was established in 2014 [00:38.36]to support independent media in the one-party Communist country. [00:45.32]The Vietnamese online news site, VNExpress, [00:49.88]reported that court documents said Dung and others [00:54.60]set up the organization to "fight and change [00:59.36]the current political institutions of Vietnam." [01:04.52]Government officials questioned Dung, [01:07.68]a former member of the ruling Communist Party, several times [01:13.16]for activities connected with the organization before his arrest in 2019. [01:21.24]Dung was sentenced Tuesday along with two other writers, [01:26.68]Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan. [01:31.68]The two were given 11 years in prison, a defense lawyer said. [01:37.96]Dung's wife, Bui Thi Hong Loan, attended Tuesday's hearing in Ho Chi Minh City. [01:45.80]She told VOA that she was not surprised by the sentence [01:51.20]but called the evidence presented against her husband "ambiguous." [01:57.76]Nguyen Van Mieng is a lawyer on Dung and Tuan's defense team. [02:03.16]All three journalists, he said, "demonstrated their rights [02:08.56]of freedom of press and advocate for democracy and human rights...." [02:15.32]Mieng added that all three rejected the accusation [02:20.04]they were advocating for a change in Vietnam's government. [02:25.48]He said that Dung warned of judicial wrongdoing [02:29.96]in his final statement to the court. [02:32.92]He reportedly said a ruling of a severe sentence [02:38.24]would be a clear "violation of freedom of the press, [02:42.80]as well as other democracy and human rights in Vietnam." [02:49.20]The Committee to Protect Journalists described the punishment as "outrageous." [02:55.68]It said the government has no intention of permitting [02:59.88]"even the most basic elements of a free press." [03:05.48]Daniel Bastard is head of Asia-Pacific for Reporters Without Borders. [03:12.84]He said that the sentences were designed to silence [03:17.52]any form of public debate ahead of the party's national congress later this month. [03:25.92]In an email to VOA, Bastard wrote, "It is all the more shocking [03:32.00]to know that the hearing was less than half a day long." [03:37.24]Vietnam has one of the worst records on media freedom. [03:42.12]Reporters Without Borders says it is the fifth least free country [03:48.72]out of the group's list of 180 nations. [03:53.96]The government has control over radio, [03:57.16]television stations and printed publications. [04:01.52]It bans independent or privately-owned media [04:06.36]and blocks access to many websites. [04:10.64]I'm Caty Weaver. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM