The An Giang provincial People’s Court on January 23 sent four men to jail for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Clause 2 of Article 88 of the 2009 Penal Code. 

Vuong Van Tha

Vuong Van Tha, 49, from Vinh Hau commune, An Phu district, the southern province of An Giang received a 12-year jail term and his 28-year-old son Vuong Thanh Thuan got a seven-year imprisonment sentence. 

A jail sentence of six years was given to Nguyen Nhat Truong and Nguyen Van Thuong, the 33-year-old twins from Tan Hung ward, Thot Not district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. 

All of them will be put under house arrest in three years after they finish their term.

According to the indictment of the An Giang People’s Procuracy, around 1988, Tha, a follower of the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect, regularly held gatherings to illegally evangelize. 

In 2013, he was sentenced to three years in prison for “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate legitimate rights and interests of organisations and citizens.”

After serving his prison term in October 2015, Tha continued to take advantage of religions and beliefs to undermine the great national unity and go against laws in his locality. 

On January 29, 30 and 31 and March 5, 6 and 23, 2017, he used amplifiers to disseminate fabricated and distorted information to slander the authorities and the Communist Party of Vietnam 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 the usernames of “Tha Vuong Van,” “Vuong Van Tha,” and “Bao tu Dang con san” to defame Party leaders. 

He also incited people to hang yellow flags with three red stripes, the flag of the former Sai Gon regime, and take to the streets, causing disorder at headquarters of State agencies, while gathering signatures in support of the “Temporary Vietnam Government” led by Dao Minh Quan in the US. 

To cope with competent forces, Tha prohibited his family members from going out of their house. 

On April 16, 2017, in response to Tha’s call, Thuong and Truong came to Tha’s house, where they were instructed to, together with Tha’s wife and daughter, to make the flags of the former Sai Gon regime. 

On April 30, 2017, Tha displayed the yellow flag on his house’s roof, and disseminated propaganda to defame authorities and oppose the State. 

He, together with Truong, Thuan and Thuong prevented competent agencies from lowering the flag.

The four men were arrested on May 18, 2017.-VNA