Blogger Mother Mushroom arrested

On the morning of October 10, the Investigation Security Agency, Khanh Hoa Provincial Police, issued a decision to prosecute, temporarily detain and search Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (37 years old, residing at 24 Dang Tat, Vinh Phuoc, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa) for the crime of "Propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam", as prescribed in Article 88 of the Penal Code.

The above decisions and orders have all been approved by the People's Procuracy of Khanh Hoa province.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (blogger “Mother Mushroom”) is a subject with a history of fierce opposition activities. She has been warned many times by authorities and handled in different ways, but she increasingly shows contempt for the law, challenges authorities, and the nature of her law violations is increasingly dangerous.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh

Since March 2009, Quynh joined the reactionary organization “Nguoi Viet Patriotic” and was assigned to be in charge of the financial sector, actively wrote articles on the blog “Mother Mushroom”, received money from the terrorist organization “Viet Tan” to print T-shirts with content protesting the bauxite project in the Central Highlands, was arrested by the Security Investigation Agency, Khanh Hoa Provincial Police, and detained for the act of abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State. Due to his good attitude in reporting, first-time violation and commitment to repentance, Quynh was released after 9 days of criminal detention.

However, not long after that, Quynh became more deeply involved in anti-state activities under the guise of “fighting for human rights”. Quynh participated in many illegal groups such as “Declaration of Free Citizens”, “Vietnam Bloggers Network”, continuously calling for gatherings and protests to disrupt security and order in Khanh Hoa and the whole country under the names of “human rights picnics”, “human rights cafes”, “anti-China protests”, demanding the release of those arrested and processed outside the court… Therefore, Quynh was repeatedly administratively punished for the act of “Taking advantage of freedom and democracy to entice and incite others to infringe upon the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals” on May 22, 2013 and the act of “disturbing public order” on April 19, 2014.

Notably, in recent years, Quynh has drafted hundreds of articles posted on Facebook and his blog with content distorting the truth, distorting history, undermining national unity, defaming the leaders of the Party, the State and public organizations, harming the reputation of individuals and State organizations, affecting the people's trust in the leadership of the Party and the State, and inciting people to oppose the government.

A typical example is the document "Stop police killing civilians", which compiles 31 cases of people who died while working, detained, imprisoned, or re-educated at the police agency, drafted by Quynh in 2014. It distorts the nature of the incident, shows hostility toward the police force, makes readers misunderstand the issue, and at the same time insults and degrades the reputation of the Vietnam People's Police force, harming the relationship between the people and the police force.

The fact that Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh has been active in opposition for a long time without being properly handled has caused indignation and anger among the masses and affected security and order in the province. The procedural decisions on the morning of October 10 against Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh were carried out in accordance with legal regulations.

According to cand