Four Activists Convicted of “Conducting Anti-state Propaganda,” Sentenced to 31
Years in Prison
Defend
the Defenders, March 30, 2021 Vietnam’s
communist regime has convicted four activists named Mr. Vu Tien Chi, Ms. Nguyen
Thi Cam Thuy, Ms. Ngo Thi Ha Phuong, and Mr. Le Viet Hoa of “Making, storing,
spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of
Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code
for their online activities. In two
separated trials held in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and the
central coastal province of Khanh Hoa on March 30, the four activists were
sentenced to a combined total 31 years in prison and six years of probation. The
People’s Court of Lam Dong gave Mr. Chi 10 years in prison followed by three
years of probation while the People’s Court of Khanh Hoa sentenced Ms. Thuy to
nine years in prison and three years of probation, Ms. Phuong seven years, and
Mr. Hoa five years in prison. According
to the indictment, from the beginning of 2018, Mr. Chi shared 338 articles and
conducted 181 livestreams on his Facebook page with content distorting the
regime’s policies and defaming senior communist leaders, including late
President Ho Chi Minh, who founded the communist regime. These online posts are
harmful for the regime and affected the people’s beliefs in the ruling Communist
Party of Vietnam and its government, the trial panel of the People’s Court of
Lam Dong concluded. The
People’s Court of Khanh Hoa province concluded that Ms. Thuy, a former school
teacher fired for her political opinion, was responsible for 181 livestreams and
many posts on her Facebook accounts “Nguyễn Cẩm Thúy” and “Cẩm Thúy Cô” to
defame the regime. She was also accused of burning the red flags of the ruling
party and the regime as well as cutting portraits of senior leaders, including
the regime founder Ho Chi Minh. On March
29, the Khanh Hoa newspaper, the mouthpiece of the province’s Party Committee
reported that the province’s People’s Court will hold the first-instance
hearing on
March 30-31 to try Ms. Thuy and two others named Ngo Thi Phuong Ha and Le Viet
Hoa, however, the state-controlled media has not reported their activities which
can be used for their conviction. The
state-run newspapers also reported that Mr. Chi and Ms. Thuy know each other,
having a joint plan to expand a network of people sharing the same thoughts to
establish a political opposition. Both Chi
and Thuy were arrested on
June 24 last year. There is no information about their pre-trial detention. It
is unclear whether the four activists have their own lawyers during their trials
or not. They are
among 51 activists being imprisoned on the charge of “conducting anti-state
propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015 (or Article 88 of the
Penal Code 1999) which is condemned by the international community as an
effective tool to silence government critics. President of the unregistered
professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) PhD. Pham
Chi Dung and
his deputy Nguyen
Tuong Thuy as
well as world-recognized human rights defender and well-known political blogger Pham
Doan Trang were
also arrested on this charge. Mr. Dung and Mr. Thuy were sentenced to 15 years
and 11 years in prison, respectively, in early January this year while Ms. Trang
is still held incommunicado in pre-trial detention after her arrest on October 7
last year. In March,
Vietnam’s security forces arrested three Facebookers on the same allegation, two
of them Tran
Trong Khanhand
Le Trong Hung have declared to run as self-nominated candidates for the
country’s highest legislative body National Assembly in the election scheduled
in late May. Vietnam
continues to intensify its crackdown on the local political dissidents, social
activists, and human rights defenders which started in late 2015. Since the
beginning of this year, it has arrested five activists on the allegations of
“conducting anti-state propaganda” or “abusing democratic freedom,” and
convicted nine others and sentenced them to a combined total of 76 years in
prison and 15 years of probation, according to Defend the Defenders’ statistics. The
persecution tendency is expected to be severe in the next five years after many
conservative senior leaders such as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Minister of Public Security To Lam of the
communist regime were re-elected to the party’s leadership in its 13th National
Congress which ended on February 1.
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