Charged with “conducting propaganda against the State of theSocialist Republic of Vietnam”, Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, received afour-year jail term, instead of 8 years’ imprisonment previously givenby the lower court. Nguyen Phuong Uyen, a 21-year-old student, had hersix-year jail term cut to a three-year suspended sentence and a 52-monthprobation.
The court heard that Kha, who resided inWard 6, Tan An city, Long An province and Uyen, who lived in Ham Tricommune, Ham Thuan Bac district, central Binh Thuan province madefriends via social network Facebook with Nguyen Thien Thanh, who wasliving in Thailand, between April and May 2012.
Thanhencouraged the pair to join the so-called “Tuoi tre yeu nuoc” (PatrioticYouth), a reactionary organisation of which Thanh is a member.
On August 31, 2012, Thanh sent Kha three files with differentcontents to spread in urban and rural areas and roads. Kha was alsoasked to take four or five photographs to be posted on the Tuoi tre yeunuoc website.
Indicted by Thanh, Kha and Uyen produced,stored and circulated anti-State documents. In August 2012, theyerected a yellow flag with three red stripes, the flag of the former SaiGon regime, and a banner that defames the Communist Party of Vietnam inpublic spaces in Tan An city and Ham Tri commune. They took photographsof the scene and sent them to Thanh to publish on the Tuoi tre yeu nuocwebsite.
On October 10, 2012, the pair scatteredleaflets on An Suong flyover in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district, HoChi Minh City.
Under the direction of Thanh via theInternet, both Kha and Uyen conducted planned actions against theVietnamese State.
They were charged with “conductingpropaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”stipulated in Point C, Clause 1, Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Thanh is being hunted by Ho Chi Minh City’s security forces forhis involvement in another anti-State case that the Ho Chi Minh CityPeople’s Court judged on October 10, 2012.-VNA