Vuong Van Tha (Source: VNA)An Giang (VNA) –The An Giangprovincial People’s Court on January 23 sent four men to jail for “conducting propagandaagainst the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Clause 2 ofArticle 88 of the 2009 Penal Code.
Vuong Van Tha, 49, from Vinh Hau commune, AnPhu district, the southern province of An Giang received a 12-year jail termand his 28-year-old son Vuong Thanh Thuan got a seven-year imprisonmentsentence.
A jail sentence of six years was given toNguyen Nhat Truong and Nguyen Van Thuong, the 33-year-old twins from Tan Hungward, Thot Not district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
All of them will be putunder house arrest in three years after they finish their term.
According to the indictmentof the An Giang People’s Procuracy, around 1988, Tha, a follower of the Hoa HaoBuddhist sect, regularly held gatherings to illegally evangelize.
In 2013, he was sentenced tothree years in prison for “abusing therights to freedom and democracy to violate legitimaterights and interests of organisations and citizens.”
After serving his prison termin October 2015, Tha continued to take advantage of religions and beliefs to underminethe great national unity and go against laws in his locality.
On January 29, 30 and 31 andMarch 5, 6 and 23, 2017, he used amplifiers to disseminate fabricated anddistorted information to slander the authorities and the Communist Party ofVietnam in his private house in Vinh Linh hamlet, Vinh Hau commne.
Tha instructed his son,Thuan, to make video clips on his deeds and post them on Facebook under theusernames of “Tha Vuong Van,” “Vuong Van Tha,” and “Bao tu Dang con san” todefame Party leaders.
He also incited people to hangyellow flags with three red stripes, the flag of the former Sai Gon regime, andtake to the streets, causing disorder at headquarters of State agencies, whilegathering signatures in support of the “Temporary Vietnam Government” led byDao Minh Quan in the US.
To cope with competentforces, Tha prohibited his family members from going out of their house.
On April 16, 2017, inresponse to Tha’s call, Thuong and Truong came to Tha’s house, where they wereinstructed to, together with Tha’s wife and daughter, to make the flags of theformer Sai Gon regime.
On April 30, 2017, Thadisplayed the yellow flag on his house’s roof, and disseminated propaganda to defameauthorities and oppose the State.
He, together with Truong,Thuan and Thuong prevented competent agencies from lowering the flag.
The four men were arrestedon May 18, 2017.-VNA
VNA
