Vietnam upholds 2-year jail term against blogger

 June 26 at 12:50 AM
ap
HANOI, Vietnam — A court in central Vietnam has upheld a two-year jail sentence against a well-known dissident blogger for posting online criticism of the communist government.

Truong Duy Nhat was convicted of “abusing democratic freedoms” to infringe upon the interests of the state in May last year.

Lawyer Tran Vu Hai said Nhat maintained his innocence during the appeal hearing in central Danang City that lasted nearly two hours Thursday.

Nhat was a reporter at a state-run newspaper before quitting more than three years ago to focus on his blog, “Another Point of View.” He said in 2010 that he quit the newspaper “to write about things that I want to write.”