Prosecution of additional members of the group 'Clean Newspaper'
Can Tho City Police Security Investigation Agency has prosecuted Le The Thang - editor of Fanpage Bao Sach.
Thang is the person who directly deleted the Fanpage.Clean Newspaper", after Truong Chau Huu Danh (born in 1982, residing in Long An province) was arrested at the end of 2020. During the investigation, the Security Agency extracted and archived related articles.
Regarding the case, in early June 2021, Can Tho City People's Procuracy transferred the entire case file, requesting the investigation agency at the same level to conduct additional investigation and clarify the actions of those involved for handling according to the law.
In May 2021, the Security Investigation Agency transferred the case file to the People's Procuracy of the same level, requesting to prosecute the accused Truong Chau Huu Danh, Nguyen Thanh Nha (born in 1980), Doan Kien Giang (born in 1986, all residing in Ho Chi Minh City) and Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao (born in 1982, residing in Da Nang City) for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.
The above-mentioned group of defendants used to work as reporters and journalists at a number of agencies based in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Bao and Nha are the Deputy Director and Director of TT FOCUS Company Limited (based in Ho Chi Minh City).
According to the investigation agency, the defendant Danh had personal motives when writing articles and posting information on social networks. Many articles and postings on personal accounts were under the name of fighting against negativity and clean journalism activities, but in reality, they were negative.
The Security Investigation Agency collected 31 articles related to Can Tho City and 29 videos posted publicly on Facebook. Defendant Danh admitted that the articles were false.
In addition to using personal Facebook to commit crimes in Can Tho, the defendants, along with Bao, Nha, and Giang, took advantage of press freedom to write and post on the Fanpage “Bao Sach” and the Group “Lam Bao Sach”. Many articles on the Fanpage “Bao Sach” and the Group “Lam Bao Sach” - established by the defendants, contained untrue content, lacked verification, and were subjective inferences.
Two members of the group said that Danh and many other members received money to handle the media so they left the group.
According to the Security Investigation Agency, through the activities of the Fanpage “Bao Sach”, the defendants received money to do communications, promote brands and provide legal advice to 8 businesses and individuals in many places with a total amount of more than 2.8 billion VND…
During the investigation, the defendants confessed honestly. The defendants' crimes took place over a long period of time, were organized, and were committed multiple times against many different state agencies, organizations, and individuals.
The Security Investigation Agency determined that the defendants' acts of abusing freedom of speech and freedom of the press to write, post, and disseminate on social networks many articles with untrue content, unverified content, and subjective inferences have violated the interests of the State, affected the role of national management and state management in localities, caused confusion, suspicion, and destabilized people's trust.
The defendants' untrue articles seriously affected the legitimate rights and interests of the State in general and local authorities in particular; affected the prestige, rights and legitimate interests of the Party organization; affected the prestige of the Party and State leaders...
At the defendants’ homes, email boxes, and chat groups, the Security Investigation Agency discovered and seized documents stamped “confidential,” “top secret,” and documents not stamped “confidential” but labeled as confidential. The Security Investigation Agency determined that the defendants showed signs of intentionally disclosing state secrets; appropriating, trading, or destroying state secret objects or documents.
Due to the complexity of the crime and to ensure the completion of the investigation within the statutory time limit, the Security Investigation Agency has separated to continue verifying, initiating investigation and handling in another case.
