Academic Prosecuted After Publication Calling for Reform of Vietnam’s Communist Party

A Vietnamese policeman stands watch outside the Phuoc Co jail on the outskirts of the southern coastal town of Vung Tau in 2006. Hoang Dinh Nam/file/AFP via Getty Images

A Vietnamese academic, who published books detailing his suggestions for the improvement of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, was charged with “abusing democratic freedoms” and banned from leaving the country.

Nguyen Son Lo, 74, the former director of the SENA Institute of Technology Research and Development, was prosecuted and placed under house arrest by the Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday.