Le Thanh Trung

Le Thanh Trung is a Vietnamese journalist and blogger. He started his own blog in September 2007 whilst studying in Taiwan, and posted articles critical of the Vietnamese government under the pen-name ‘Blacky’. The blog was widely read both inside and outside Vietnam.

Le Thanh Trung became broadly known within the independent blogging community in Vietnam, and repeated attempts were made to close down his blogs by the Vietnamese authorities. He also published many critical articles on the issues of human rights, freedom of expression and social justice in Vietnam on various overseas news portals and international press freedom organisations, including Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). He has also worked as a freelancer for the Vietnamese online news portal Danlambaovn.blogspot.com.

Writing openly about his political opinions, he soon became unpopular with the Vietnamese authorities and had to flee the country in 2010. He arrived as guest writer in Tromsø City of Refuge in 2013.