VietNamNet Bridge – The southern province of An Giang last Thursday held a press conference on the case of three public servants who were fined for making comments about the provincial chairman on Facebook.

"The development of the incident has caused great pressure on not only the Chairman, the people involved and their families, but also has affected the operation and the reputation of An Giang province," said Mr. Vo Nguyen Nam, Chief of the An Giang Province People’s Committee Office cum spokesperson of An Giang province.

Mr. Ho Viet Hiep, Vice Chairman of An Giang Province, said: "If the media did not raise the voice, this case would have not been reviewed for equitable treatment. However, the fix is not because of pressure of the media but based on legal grounds."

According to Hiep, the local agencies did not fully obey the the law. The individuals involved were sincere in acknowledging their responsibility, overcoming their mistakes and proposed more gentle sanctions. The Chairman’s opinion is to deal with the case reasonably.

Mr. Nguyen Hanh, Deputy Chief of Internal Affairs Department of An Giang Provincial Party Committee, said that the three people involved in the case made mistakes. However, the mistake did not deserve being fined. Moreover, the file of the case was made incorrectly so the sanction must be canceled.

"The Department of Information and Communications apologized to teacher Trang for the wrong administrative sanction. For Mr. Phuc, the authorities determined that he had made mistakes," said Mr. Tran Thanh Tam, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications.

According to the case file, in mid-June, the Government Inspectorate proposed to reprimand An Giang Chairman Mr. Vuong Binh Thanh for poor land management. Ms. Le Thi Thuy Trang, a literature teacher of Long Xuyen high school in Long Xuyen City, posted the information on her Facebook, with comments: "When it happened? That is good for the people.” The post got eight comments.

Mr. Huynh Nguyen Huy Phuc, who works for An Giang Power Company, commented: "This Chairman is arrogant, who is the farthest away from the people among the chairmen of An Giang." However, Phuc made comments on his wife’s Facebook page, who was Deputy chief of the Office of An Giang Department of Industry and Trade.

Working with the authorities, teacher Trang said she did not intentionally insult the honor and reputation of anyone on Facebook. Phuc said that he made the comment in anger because of the contradictions in life between neighbors (the Chairman’s mother is Phuc’s neighbor), and he did not intend to discredit the Chairman.

On October 16, the Department of Information and Communications decided to imposed VND5 million of fine on teacher Trang and Phuc. The teacher was also reprimanded by her school while Phuc’s wife was reprimanded by authorities and her Party cell and was moved to another position.

In the first minutes, the Department of Information and Communications said Phuc and Trang had violated Article 5 of Decree 72/2013/ND-CP on the management and use of Internet (diffusing distorted information to slander, insult the reputation of organizations, honor and dignity of the individual).

But the records of administrative violations wrote that Trang and Phuc violated Article 66 of Decree 174/2013/ND-CP on handling administrative violations in the field of postal, telecommunications, information technology and radio frequency (supply,exchange, transmission or storage of digital information to intimidate, harass, distort, slander, insult reputation of organizations, honor, dignity and reputation of others).

The sanctioning decision against Phuc and Trang, the Department of Information and Communications was based on "the Law on Handling Administrative Violations dated 1/7/2013" while the legal system of Vietnam only has the Law on Administrative Sanctions No.15/2012/QH13 by the National Assembly dated 20.06.2012.

Linh Nhat