The People’s Court in the central province of Ha Tinh on April 12 handed down a jail term of nine years, which will be followed by another five-year probation, to Tran Thi Xuan for attempt to overthrow the people’s administration.

The People’s Court in the central province of Ha Tinh on April 12 handed down a jail term of nine years, which will be followed by another five-year probation to Tran Thi Xuan, for attempts to overthrow the people’s administration (Photo: laodongnghean.vn)

According to the indictment of the provincial People’s Procuracy, Tran Thi Xuan, born 1976, agreed to become a member of the so-called Hoi anh em dan chu (Brotherhood for Democracy) after being introduced to the group in June 2016 by head of the group’s training section Le Thanh Tung, a resident in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Hoi anh em dan chu is a reactionary organisation involving in illegal activities against the Party and State of Vietnam with the aim to overthrow the people’s administration.

During a social network-based conference in July 2016 to elect the organisation’s key posts, Xuan was elected deputy head of the organisation in the central region whilst Nguyen Trung Truc remained head of the central region branch.

Since then, Xuan often chaired the organisation’s periodical meetings through social networks and used Facebook accounts nicknamed Nu Tam Xuan and Tran Hoang Quan to post and share writings and images containing wrong information about the Party and State’s policies, and agitate the public to go on strike and then pose these images on social networks and some websites.

With her position, and instructions and support from foreign and domestic reactionary organisations, Xuan increasingly demonstrated her attempt to oppose and overthrow the Government. On April 3, 2017 she directly used microphone, screaming protest slogans and agitating local people to destroy property and cause social disorder, seriously affecting the operation of the Loc Ha District People’s Committee in Ha Tinh province for hours.

Xuan’s acts were said to "attempt to overthrow the people’s administration" under Clause 1, Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.

Also on April 12, Nguyen Viet Dung, 32, in central Nghe An province’s Yen Thanh district was sentenced to seven years in prison and another five years under probation for conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the first-instance trial.

According to the investigation agency, Dung (usually called Dung Phi Ho) once received a 12-month-jail for "causing social disorder" by the Hanoi People’s Court. Releasing from prison, Dung used social networks to collude with extremists and reactionaries to write articles, post photos that distort the truth about the country and destroy the peaceful life of countrymen.

From April 30, 2017 to May 19, 2017, Dung used his own Facebook page to post numerous articles with contents containing wrong information about the Party and State’s policies, defame the Government, and distort the national history.

On September 27 last year, Dung was arrested for "conducting propaganda against the Social Republic of Vietnam" in accordance with the Article 88 of the Penal Code.-VNA