Vietnam Sentences Three for Running Facebook Discussion Group
Economic-Political Discussion group administrators refuse lawyers, get two to
four years.
RFA | 2020-12-21
Authorities in Vietnam on Monday sentenced three administrators of a Facebook
online political discussion group to lengthy prison sentences in yet another
example of Hanoi’s disregard for freedom of expression, their defense lawyers
told RFA.
The court in Ho Chi Minh City convicted the three administrators of “abusing
democratic freedom rights to infringe upon the benefits of other individuals
and/or organizations,” under Article 331 of the Vietnam 2015 Penal Code, a
vaguely worded law often used to lock up bloggers and other peaceful critics of
the Vietnamese government.
Defense lawyer Nguyen Van Ming told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that Nguyen Dang
Thuong received 18 months, Huynh Anh Khoa 15, and Tran Trong Khai 12, for
leading a Facebook group called Economic-Political Discussion.
The group had a following of 46,000 Facebook users prior to shutting down after
Nguyen and Huynh were arrested on June 13. The two lawyers do not know exactly
when Tran was arrested because they have not been allowed to read his case file.
Nguyen Van Ming and colleague Dang Dinh Manh had been defending the two men but
the defendants had refused to meet with them in the last phase of their case.
“The other lawyer and I had been invited to defend this case, and even though
this is not a matter of national security…, the District 8 judicial authority
asked the defendants to refuse representation during the three investigation
phases,” Nguyen the lawyer told RFA Monday.
“At the request of their families, the other lawyer Dang Din Manh and I came to
the court, but we weren’t allowed to take part in the trial. When I arrived, the
court’s gate was closed and the security officers didn’t allow me in,” he said.
Nguyen then told the security guards that he wanted to be present for the trial,
which is a public matter, and he would not act in his capacity as a defense
lawyer.
“But the security official said, ‘Please understand, this is a sensitive case,’
and they wouldn’t let me in. Finally, I just stood outside the gate,” Nguyen
said.
Huynh’s wife, Pham Thi Bao Ngoc, told RFA that none of the three men on trial
were allowed to even speak in their own defense.
“The judge said the three of them displayed a clear sign of discontent with the
government, advocated for a multiparty system, offended the honor of the party,
opposed the state, distorted Vietnamese history, and posted on Facebook fake
materials or information aimed at distorting the facts of Vietnamese history,”
said Pham.
“The judges accused them under the cybersecurity law of offending the honor of
the party, state, the prime minister, and former president Ho Chi Minh,” she
said.
The controversial cybersecurity law took effect in Jan. 2019 and grants
authorities “sweeping powers to censor online content,” with technology
companies required to identify users and remove politically sensitive postings.
Dissent is not tolerated in the communist nation, and authorities routinely use
a set of vague provisions in the penal code to detain dozens of activists,
writers, and bloggers.
According to the rights group Defend the Defenders, Hanoi is currently detaining
at least 238 prisoners of conscience.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English
by Eugene Whong.
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