On August 16, the Hanoi People’s High Court held an appeals hearing for Le Van Dung, a citizen journalist and online commentator, who was previously charged and convicted of “distributing anti-State propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s former 1999 Penal Code. The court later rejected the appeals made by Dung, upholding his five-year imprisonment and five-year probation sentence.

According to the indictment, Le Van Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova, had created and published videos on social media, which were found to have offended “the honor and prestige” of the ruling Communist Party and state leaders, Reuters reported. Dung and his lawyers argued that he only practiced the right to freedom of speech enshrined in Vietnam’s Constitution.