This morning the appeals court of the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City opened the appeal hearing for Tuoi Tre’s former reporter Hoang Khuong, who was sentenced to four years in jail in September for bribing a police officer.

>> Tuoi Tre’s journalist to appeal 4-year sentence >> Court issues 4-year sentence to Tuoi Tre reporter>> Sentence cut recommended for Tuoi Tre journalist>> Tuoi Tre opposes police’s conclusion on Khuong>> Lawyer opposes detention of Tuoi Tre journalistIn the September 6 trial by the HCMC People’s Court, Hoang Khuong, whose real name is Nguyen Van Khuong, received his four-year sentence while Huynh Minh Duc, former traffic police officer in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, was given five years in jail for taking bribes. Pham Minh Hoa, the owner of a motorcycle impounded by the Binh Thanh police, Nguyen Duc Dong Anh, who is Khuong’s brother-in-law and a friend of Hoa’s, and Tran Anh Tuan, vice director of Tan Hai Phong Co. Ltd., received five years, four years and one year respectively for the same charge as Khuong.

Meanwhile, Ton That Hoa, director of Duy Nguyen Private Enterprise, was sentened to two years for bribe brokerage.

On December 7, following a decision by the Supreme People’s Court, Khuong, 37, who has detained on January 2, 2012, was released on bail so that he could return to his hometown to attend the funeral of his mother, who had died the day before. At the appeal hearing this morning, Khuong was still defended free of charge by lawyer Phan Trung Hoai. The court allowed the Tuoi Tre Editorial Board to attend the trial. Le Xuan Trung, a member of the board, has been authorized by the board to attend the hearing. In his appeal, Khuong, denied the charge of “giving bribes,” maintaining that he only made a journalistic wrongdoing and did not commit a criminal offense. Khuong asserted that he did not bribe anyone and that he only made the mistake of being involved in handing VND15 million (US$720) to Duc on behalf of traffic violator Tran Minh Hoa – an action that only aimed to obtain enough evidence for an exposé story about Duc’s corruption. The HCMC Journalists’ Association previously sent a statement to the appeal court proposing that Khuong be given a commutation, since he had committed such an offense for the first time and in the process of writing an article assigned by Tuoi Tre. In addition to the detained journalist, Duc, Pham Minh Hoa, Anh and Tuan also appealed their sentences, petitioning for a commutation. Meanwhile, Ton That Hoa did not appeal his two-year sentence for bribe brokering, but he was also present at the trial as a witness.