Trial of two subjects for anti-state propaganda

(Baonghean.vn) -On the morning of March 6, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of the case of "Propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" against Vo Thi Thu Thuy (born in 1962, from An Ninh commune, Quang Ninh district, Quang Binh) and Nguyen Van Thanh (born in 1984, from Nghi Dien commune, Nghi Loc, Nghe An).

Nguyen Van Thanh was involved in a case of intentional injury and was prosecuted by Nghi Loc District Police. When searching Thanh's house, the authorities discovered and seized a number of anti-Party and anti-State documents, so the case was transferred to the Nghe An Provincial Police's Security Investigation Agency for handling.

Defendants Thuy and Thanh in court.

From Thanh's testimony, on March 22, 2011, Vo Thi Thu Thuy was also arrested by the authorities. Vo Thi Thu Thuy is a member of the Pastoral Council of Tam Toa Parish in Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh. In July 2009, Thuy participated in the disturbance at Tam Toa relic in Dong Hoi City (Quang Binh), fearing arrest by Quang Binh Province police, she fled to Xa Doai Bishop's Palace (Nghe An).

Here, Thuy contacted Nguyen Van Ly (born in 1946, residing in Hue City - whose sentence was temporarily suspended for medical treatment. Previously, Ly himself had served 17 years in prison). Ly persuaded Thuy to distribute documents to propagate against the State and the Party. Thuy went to Hue many times and was given about 27-28 documents, 3 CDs and 1,900 USD by Nguyen Van Ly to print and distribute documents against the Party and the State.

During her time at the Xa Doai Bishop's Palace, Thuy hung around Thanh's younger sister's hair salon and was taken home by Thanh to visit and have dinner. Knowing that Thanh was someone who regularly went to the Bishop's Palace to serve in the church and could be trusted, Thuy enticed and persuaded Thanh to serve her work, photocopying documents and distributing them to many people on occasions when parishioners went to church.

On the morning of July 22, 2010, before the ordination ceremony of Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop at Xa Doai Bishop's Palace, Thuy gave Thanh 4 documents and 600,000 VND to photocopy and distribute to people attending the ceremony. The above documents all contained content that defamed the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese state and the authorities of some localities.

From August to October 2010, Vo Thi Thu Thuy, Nguyen Van Thanh and other subjects organized four times to distribute documents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Communist Party of Vietnam in Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen districts.

During the investigation, Thuy was educated and propagandized by the officers in charge. She repented, confessed honestly, and served the investigation well. For that reason, the Provincial Police Department sent a dispatch to the Trial Council requesting that Thuy be placed in a lower penalty bracket so that she could soon reform and become a good citizen. However, the Trial Council found that Thuy had committed the crime many times (she escaped from Quang Binh to Nghe An), so she was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Nguyen Van Thanh, with a 4th grade education, married with 2 small children, poor family, children often sick, Thanh honestly confessed his actions, showed remorse and repentance and asked for a lighter sentence. Considering the crime and finding that because of his low education level and limited understanding, the Court sentenced Nguyen Van Thanh to 3 years in prison.

Ha Linh