On February 28, the Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People’s Court held an appeal hearing for former journalist Le Huu Minh Tuan. The appeals court announced its decision on the same day, upholding Tuan’s previous 11-year sentencing.

Le Huu Minh Tuan, 33, is a freelance journalist and a former member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), an independent journalism group that is not recognized by the Vietnamese government. He was arrested in June 2020 for “distributing anti-state propaganda”, an alleged violation of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.