Vietnam Indicts Five Journalists From Facebook-Based Outlet
A legal expert explains that Articles 331 and 117 of the penal code are
basically the same.
RFA | 2021-09-10
Authorities in Vietnam on Wednesday indicted five journalists from the Báo Sạch
(Clean Newspaper) Facebook-based news outlet on charges of “abusing democracy
and freedom to infringe on state interests,” state media reported.
According to the indictment, issued by the Procuracy of Thoi Lai district, in
the southern city of Can Tho, the Clean Newspaper staff posted anti-state and
reactionary information and delved into information that was “inappropriate,
distorting, against the country’s interests, and slanderous of the people’s
administration” in violation of Article 331 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code.
The five indicted journalists are: Truong Chau Huu Danh, Nguyen Thanh Nha, Doan
Kien Giang, Nguyen Phuong Trung Bao, and Le The Thang.
Thang has been released on bail and is barred from leaving his house while the
others have been arrested and detained.
Danh, meanwhile, was also charged with posting stories that “generated bad
interactions between internet users in the cyber environment” and
“propagandized, distorted, defamed and seriously slandered Party organizations
and local Party committees."
State media reports also said the Clean Newspaper group was paid by businesses
to write and publish favorable stories.
According to the indictment, the group’s Facebook fan page, Facebook group, and
YouTube channel were created in August 2019. Between the three platforms, the
group had published 47 reports or videos dealing with hot-button social issues.
Article 331 and Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code have been criticized by
human rights lawyers and organizations as having been used as “a tool to stifle
dissenting voices.”
Dang Dinh Manh, a Vietnam-based lawyer, told RFA on Wednesday that the two
articles are essentially the same, despite differing text.
“If you want to impose a lighter penalty, go with Article 331 and if you want a
more serious one, go with Article 117,” said Manh.
Article 117 imposes penalties for “creating, storing, and disseminating
information, documents, items, and publications opposing the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam,” while Article 331 prohibits “abusing the rights to freedom and
democracy to violate the interests of the state, the legitimate rights and
interests of organizations and individuals.”
Manh said an investigator told him during a meeting that prosecutors will choose
which article they want to apply to a case depending on how severe they want the
punishment to be.
“In general, both articles are aimed at restricting people’s freedom of
expression. These articles should not exist because they contradict Vietnam’s
very constitution, which allows Vietnamese people to criticize the policies they
deem as detrimental to the interests of the country and the people. What the
Clean Newspaper group said should not be seen as anti-State,” Manh said.
In its Freedom in the World 2021 report, Washington D.C.-based Freedom
House gave Vietnam an overall score of 19 out of a possible 100, a one-point
drop from last year’s rating. Vietnam scored three out of 40 in political
rights, and 16 out of 60 in civil liberties.
”Freedom of expression, religious freedom, and civil society activism are
tightly restricted [and the] authorities have increasingly cracked down on
citizens’ use of social media and the internet,” Freedom House said.
Vietnam’s already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply last year with a
spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook
personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the
ruling Communist Party Congress in January. But arrests continue in 2021.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English
by Eugene Whong.
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