Facebook user who sabotaged the state was sentenced to 9 years in prison

Court scene. Photo: Quoc Son

On the morning of July 20, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Van Lam, born on July 25, 1970; native place: Nam Dan district, Nghe An province; permanent residence: Vinh Yen block, Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city, Nghe An province. Nguyen Van Lam was tried for the crime of "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information and documents aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" as prescribed in Article 117 of the Penal Code.

The indictment presented by the representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province at the trial stated:

On September 21, 2020, the Investigation Security Agency of Nghe An Provincial Police received crime report No. 08 dated September 16, 2020 transferred by the Department of Information and Communications of Nghe An Province, requesting verification and investigation to clarify the subject using the Facebook account "Lam Thoi" at the link address https://www.facebook.com/thoi.lam.9659 to post and share many videos, images, and articles with illegal content, along with documents extracted from this account.

The Security Investigation Agency has determined: In 2014, Nguyen Van Lam created a Facebook account under the name "Lam Thoi". From 2017 to November 2020, Nguyen Van Lam directly posted on Facebook "Lam Thoi" many illegal contents and images, including 3 videos broadcast live by Lam; 13 articles shared from accounts such as: "Lawyer Nguyen Van Dai", "Radio Free Asia", "Vietnamese Mind - Anh Chi", ... 18 articles drafted by Lam on his phone.

Defendant Nguyen Van Lam at the first instance trial. Photo: Quoc Son

All of these were posted by Lam with the purpose of propagandizing and inciting people to oppose the State and the Communist Party of Vietnam, defaming the regime, insulting the leaders of the Party and State, inciting demands for pluralism and multi-party system; posting distorted and untrue information about the situation in Vietnam.

At the trial, Nguyen Van Lam admitted his crimes.

Thus, together with the supporting documents, there is sufficient basis to determine that the defendant Nguyen Van Lam committed the crime specified in Point a, Clause 1, Article 117 of the Penal Code on "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information and documents aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".

Nguyen Van Lam has a bad personal history, having been criminally punished by courts at all levels 6 times for the crimes of: theft, prostitution brokerage, illegal drug trafficking, and intentional injury. In addition, the defendant has 5 previous convictions and has been administratively punished many times.

For the above crimes, defendant Nguyen Van Lam was sentenced to 9 years in prison by the People's Court of Nghe An province. The additional penalty is 3 years of probation after serving the prison sentence./.