Upholding the sentence of 20 years in prison and 5 years of probation for Le Dinh Luong

Overview of the appeal trial.

On the morning of October 18, 2018, in Vinh City, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a public appeal trial of the case of Le Dinh Luong for the crime of "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government".

Previously, on August 16, 2018, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a public first-instance trial of the case of Le Dinh Luong (born December 10, 1965, residing in Hop Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) for the crime of "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government". Through the trial at the first instance, realizing that this was an especially dangerous reactionary subject belonging to the terrorist organization "Viet Tan", the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Le Dinh Luong to 20 years in prison and 5 years of probation for the crime of "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government", stipulated in Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.

Believing he was wronged, Le Dinh Luong filed an appeal against the first instance verdict.

At the appeal hearing, the Trial Panel questioned the defendant, reviewed and evaluated documents and evidence related to the case to clarify and fully clarify the details of each incident and each crime of the case.

Defendant Le Dinh Luong and defense lawyers at the appeal hearing

The trial at the appeal hearing continued to clarify that Le Dinh Luong was an especially dangerous reactionary subject belonging to the terrorist organization "Viet Tan"; an active propagandist, attracting subjects with opposing ideologies in Nghe An and Ha Tinh to join the Viet Tan organization. Le Dinh Luong persuaded Nguyen Van Hoa (residing in Ky Anh-Ha Tinh) to cross the border to Laos and Cambodia to participate in Viet Tan training courses on "leadership role" and "media journalism", taught by the leaders of Viet Tan organization, training non-violent struggle skills in Vietnam.

In addition to the acts of seducing, propagating, attracting, and introducing Nguyen Van Hoa to the Viet Tan organization, based on documents collected in the case file, it was clarified that from 2010 to 2017, Le Dinh Luong also enticed, attracted, and enticed a number of other people such as Nguyen Van Oai, Dinh Huu Toan, Ngo Van Mai, Nguyen Viet Dung... to join the Viet Tan organization, with the aim of opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and eliminating the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Le Dinh Luong has repeatedly incited, participated in sabotage, distorted and defamed the Party's policies and guidelines and the State's laws and policies.

In addition, Le Dinh Luong has repeatedly incited people and directly participated in opposition activities that occurred in Yen Thanh and Dien Chau (Nghe An) such as: inciting a number of people to gather and carry banners and slogans with reactionary and oppositional content to film, take photos and post them on the internet; organizing the singing of homemade reactionary songs and posting them on the internet; calling for a boycott of the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and the election of deputies to People's Councils at all levels for the 2016-2021 term.

Taking advantage of the so-called "environmental protection", Le Dinh Luong and a number of other reactionary and opposing elements incited marches and protests against Formosa, causing insecurity, disorder, and traffic jams on a number of key routes; provided funds and means for a number of reactionary and opposing elements to serve the marches and protests, causing insecurity and disorder in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh...

In particular, through his personal Facebook page “Lo Ngoc”, Le Dinh Luong posted many articles with content propagating, inciting, distorting, and defaming the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws, distorting history, defaming leaders; causing complications for security and order in the locality.

The act of recruiting people to join the terrorist organization Viet Tan carried out by Le Dinh Luong, along with propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a continuous chain of activities, clearly demonstrating the motive and purpose of overthrowing the people's government.

The debate process at the appeal hearing has made it clear that the documents and evidence in this case were collected objectively, comprehensively, and in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code. The statements of the defendant, persons with related rights and obligations, and witnesses in the case are consistent with the time, space, location, and circumstances of the case, and are consistent with other documents and evidence, and with the appraisal results of the professional agency.

The appellate court announced its verdict.

The appellate panel determined that the first instance court's sentence of defendant Le Dinh Luong to 20 years in prison and 5 years of probation for the crime of "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government", as prescribed in Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code, was correct in terms of the person, the crime, and the provisions of the law. Therefore, the appellate panel did not accept Le Dinh Luong's appeal for injustice.

At the trial, Le Dinh Luong and his lawyers did not have any new evidence or circumstances to mitigate the defendant's charges, so the Trial Panel decided to uphold the charges and sentence Le Dinh Luong to 20 years in prison and 5 years of probation.

The verdict received high approval from the majority of people attending the trial, demonstrating the strictness of the law towards violations of Vietnamese law and is a fitting end for those who work to overthrow the people's government.

This is also a warning and deterrence to those who still have thoughts and ambitions to sabotage our Party and State - a state of the people, by the people and for the people!