(Bangkok) – The Vietnam The government should reverse the politically motivated verdict against democracy activist Duong Van Thai and release him immediately, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 30, 2024, a court in Hanoi convicted Duong Van Thai of propaganda against the state under Article 117 of the penal code and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

Duong Van Thai42 years old, fled Vietnam in 2019 and was registered in Thailand as a refugee by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). While awaiting resettlement to a third country, in April 2023, unidentified men kidnapped him in Bangkok and forcibly took him back to Vietnam.

“Duong Van Thai fled Vietnam for fear of government persecution,” it said Patricia Gossmanassociate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should recognize the kidnapping and sham trial of this democracy activist as just the latest example of the Vietnamese government’s brutal disregard for international law and the rights of its citizens.”

Duong Van Thai campaigned for democracy and human rights in Vietnam for years and participated in it protests regarding environmental rights. The Vietnamese government-controlled media accused him of association with outlaw “reactionary” groups, including Brotherhood for Democracyand Association of Independent Journalists of Vietnam. Between February 2019 and his abduction in April 2023, Duong Van Thai posted material on Facebook and YouTube about the political situation in Vietnam.

Duong Van Thai’s abduction occurred during a crackdown on pro-democracy activists under then-police chief, To Lamwhich in 2024 became head of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam. Security forces under Lam have been involved in other incidents of repression beyond Vietnam’s borders, including the kidnapping of a former party official. Trinh Xuan Thanh from Berlin in July 2017 and the blogger Truong Duy Nhat from Bangkok in January 2019. Both were sentenced to long prison terms.