A Vietnamese court on Thursday sentenced an environmental activist to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud, according to state-run media.

Hoang Thi Minh Hong was found guilty on charges of tax evasion by a court in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's economic hub, according to Thanh Nien newspaper. 

Hong is the director of an environmental non-profit group Change that she founded in 2013. The group's website was also suspended.

She was accused of dodging tax payments worth 6.7 billion Dong ($274,488 or €261,291) between 2012 and 2022, the newspaper cited the indictment as saying.

The trial lasted just half a day. Hong's husband told the AFP news agency that he was "disappointed" by the verdict. 

"The sentence given to Hong was too heavy today," he said, adding: "I think it was unfair to Hong. The defense lawyer did his best but his arguments were not considered properly."

String of climate leaders behind bars

Hong, who is 50, is the fifth known climate campaigner to be jailed on charges of tax evasion in the last two years. She was detained on May 31 along with her husband.

Many say the prosecution of environmental leaders is based on inflated charges and has to do with bringing attention to the lack of progress being made by the communist government to meet its climate targets.

The news comes two weeks after US President Joe Biden visited Hanoi. During the visit, multiple joint initiatives were announced, including protecting human rights.

Rights group slam verdict

"This conviction is a total fraud, nobody should be fooled by it," said Ben Swanton, co-director of The 88 Project charity that monitors human rights in Vietnam.

"This is yet another example of the law being weaponized to persecute climate activists who are fighting to save the planet," he added.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also slammed the charges as a weapon against activists, calling for them to be dropped.

"The Vietnamese authorities are using the vaguely worded tax code as a weapon to punish environmental leaders whom the ruling Communist Party deems a threat to their power," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW.

The watchdog said that, as of early September, there were at least 159 political prisoners in Vietnam, with a further 22 others detained pending trial.

rm/ab (Reuters, AFP)