In the morning on May 13, Dinh The Huynh, member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association (also a National Assembly member and Chief Editor of Nhan Dan Newspaper), was surrounded by a lot of journalists when he left the NA hall with many questions about the arrest of two anti-corruption investigative reporters on May 12.
On the sideline of the ongoing National Assembly session, Huynh told reporters: “As a journalist, I’m very sad to hear that news. But the association will defend journalists based on the law.”
Huynh said the association will work with Tuoi Tre and Thanh Nien newspapers as well as related agencies to collect information before officially raising its voice on the case.
“I think the press is a significant channel of information in the anti-corruption battle. Journalists’ anti-corruption work will not fall down because of this,” Huynh said.
Reporters said during the development of the PMU18 scandal that it was very difficult for them to access orthodox sources of information from related agencies, so it is difficult to evaluate how accurate their sources of information were.
“Orthodox information under the law is very limited. If the press only reports based on orthodox information the information would be insufficient while the mission of the press is seeking information. If every matter is clear, we don’t need journalists and their responsibility.”
The National Assembly discussed many important issues yesterday, including the Hanoi expansion plan, but journalists reporting on the NA session were thinking about the fate of their colleagues.
Chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers’ Association Pham Quoc Anh was also surrounded by reporters. Anh said that on May 12 (the day the two journalists were arrested), he spoke with the Head of the People’s Supreme Procuracy Tran Quoc Vuong about the matter.
Journalists Nguyen Viet Chien (left) and Nguyen Van Hai
He also frankly expressed the viewpoint that competent agencies should be very careful in this case. According to him, after former Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Viet Tien was exempted from prosecution for criminal responsibility, the prosecution and arrest of the journalists could make the public think this ‘retaliation’.
On the sideline of the NA session, many NA deputies shared with Tuoi Tre reporters the cost that their colleagues have to pay for reporting on the PMU18 case. An NA deputy who is a lawyer proposed to defend journalist Nguyen Van Hai.
In the afternoon, some journalists asked to interview the Minister of Public Security but he refused
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