Critic of Government Gets 10-Year Sentence

A former journalist who used the Internet to criticize the Vietnamese government was sentenced to seven years in jail and three years of house arrest for spying, a court official said in Hanoi, the capital.

Nguyen Vu Binh, 35, was charged with gathering anti-government information and documents for “reactionary organizations” in exile to help them oppose the government, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

During the half-day trial at the People’s Court in Hanoi, Binh admitted he had contacts with foreign organizations but maintained he did nothing wrong, the official said.