How will the person who spread slanderous rumors that the Deputy Secretary of Thanh Hoa has a mistress be punished?

The incident has a social media account posting information about Mr. Do Trong Hung -Thanh Hoa Deputy Secretary has a "mistress"Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have just issued an initial conclusion affirming that the subject created a message with fabricated content, used Facebook Son Thai to post and disseminate it with bad intentions, insulting the honor and personal reputation of comrade Do Trong Hung - aiming to destabilize the security and order situation in the area.

To confirm the above, the police worked with her.Nguyen Thi Trang– the female character posted on FB Son Thai with the above fabricated information and Ms. Trang affirmed that this was an act of making up stories, slandering, and insulting her dignity. Besides, the Standing Deputy Secretary of Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee also affirmed that he did not know anything about Ms. Trang.

In addition, the process of checking and identifying the data on the phone that Ms. Trang was using, including the list of calls and incoming and outgoing messages, did not detect any information related to comrade Do Trong Hung.

Images of the fake text messages were posted online.

Regarding this controversial case, Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai - Director of Hong Thai International Law Firm and his colleagues said that the conclusion that the information is fabricated is the responsibility of Thanh Hoa Police Department. The police are responsible for investigating, verifying and confirming the relationship between Mr. Hung and Ms. Trang in the rumor as well as extracting all text messages and calls between the two parties. Based on the investigation results, it is possible to confirm whether this information is fabricated or not.

Regarding the fact that the subject spreading false rumors on social networks as above committed the crime of insulting the honor and personal reputation of Mr. Do Trong Hung - Deputy Secretary of Thanh Hoa province, with the aim of destabilizing the security and order situation in the area, Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai said that the act of seriously insulting the dignity and honor of others is a dangerous act for society, contrary to criminal law. According to the provisions of Article 156 of the 2015 Penal Code on the crime of slander.

Accordingly, to prosecute criminal liability for the crime of slander, first of all, the offender must be a person with full criminal capacity and of age to bear criminal responsibility. According to the provisions of Article 12 of the Penal Code, only people aged 16 or older must bear criminal responsibility for this crime. People aged 14 to under 16 are not responsible for this act because it does not fall under the category of acts for which people of this age must bear criminal responsibility.

Second, when committing this act, the offender violates the honor and dignity of the victim as well as other legitimate rights and interests. Meanwhile, the honor, dignity and reputation of Vietnamese citizens are respected and protected by law.

Third, the subject of this act has direct intentional fault when committing it. The subjective consciousness of the offender is to insult the dignity, honor, and character of the victim.

Fourth, the offender commits one of the following acts:

- Committing fabricated acts to insult the honor or cause damage to the legitimate rights and interests of others. This act is shown through the offender's making up and spreading things that are not true and have distorted content to insult the honor of others or to cause damage to the legitimate rights and interests of others. The offender can commit this act by speaking directly or through other methods such as through the mass media, texting via mobile phone, etc.

Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai.

- Spreading things that are clearly fabricated in order to defame or damage the legitimate rights and interests of others. This behavior is demonstrated by the fact that the offender, although not making up untrue things about others and knowing that they are fabricated (knowing that what he spreads is fabricated is a mandatory sign), still spreads that fabricated thing (such as telling others, posting it on the media...) to others.

- Fabricating that another person has committed a crime and reporting them to a competent State agency. This is demonstrated by fabricating that another person has committed a crime and reporting them to a State agency such as the Police, the Procuracy, etc., even though in reality this person is not the one who committed those crimes.

In case the above acts are not intended to insult the honor of others, the consequence of causing damage to the rights and legitimate interests of others is the basic constituent sign of this crime.

Offenders of this crime shall only be prosecuted upon request of the victim. The penalties for this crime are divided into:

- Fine from 10,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND, non-custodial reform for up to 02 years or imprisonment from 03 months to 01 year;

- Imprisonment from 01 year to 03 years;

- Imprisonment from 03 years to 07 years;

- In addition, the offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 01 to 05 years.

“Thus, in the case of confirming that there is a subject using a FB account to defame and slander the Deputy Secretary of Thanh Hoa province and a female citizen, this subject can be prosecuted under Article 156 of the 2015 Penal Code,” said Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai.

What do you think if the person spreading the false rumors uses a server abroad, how should it be handled? Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai said:

“Through the four factors identified above, it can be seen that the tool used to commit the act of slandering another person does not affect the determination of the offender's crime.

However, if the subject uses a foreign server to commit the act, it is necessary to consider the territorial scope according to the provisions of the 2017 Criminal Consolidation Document. The Penal Code applies to all criminal acts committed in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This provision also applies to criminal acts or consequences of criminal acts occurring on aircraft or ships of Vietnamese nationality or in the exclusive economic zone or continental shelf of Vietnam," said Lawyer Thai.

Lawyer Nguyen Hong Thai added that if the offender is a Vietnamese citizen who commits a crime outside the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that is defined as a crime by this Code, he or she may be prosecuted in Vietnam according to the provisions of this Code.

Hai Ninh