Truong Chau Huu Danh was arrested and the 'escape' of the 'Clean Newspaper' group

The Investigation Security Agency of Can Tho City Police has just concluded the investigation and transferred the case to the People's Procuracy of the same level to prosecute Truong Chau Huu Danh (39 years old, residing in Long An) and 3 accomplices for the crime of "Abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals".

Conflict over suspicion of receiving money to handle media for Asanzo

In the 36-page investigation conclusion, the Can Tho City Police Department of Investigation Security stated the criminal acts of Truong Chau Huu Danh and his accomplices in the "Sach Newspaper" group.

August 2019, from acquaintances in journalism andsocial network, Truong Chau Huu Danh, Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao (39 years old, living in Da Nang City), Nguyen Thanh Nha (41 years old), Doan Kien Giang (36 years old, all living in Ho Chi Minh City), LTT (living in Hanoi) and 2 others discussed and agreed to establish a Fanpage to write and post articles to refute information and "hot" issues that society is interested in.

Truong Chau Huu Danh and the group 'Clean Newspaper'

Trung Bao is the creator of the Fanpage “Sweet Newspaper”. About a month later, members suggested changing the name to “Sweet Newspaper”.

The first article of “Sweet Newspaper” about the incident related to Asanzo Company, was in the direction of defending Asanzo, because before that, a press agency had a series of articles about this company. It was the articles about Asanzo that caused internal conflicts within the “Sweet Newspaper” group.

Two members of the group claimed that the remaining members had received money to handle media for Asanzo Company, reporting unbiased news. Therefore, these two members left the “Sweet Newspaper” group.

The conclusion stated that from the time they joined the group until they left, the two members mentioned above had not written any articles to be published on “Sweet Newspaper”. From now on, “Sweet Newspaper” has 5 members left, of which Trung Bao and Huu Danh hold the role of administrator (Admin), the rest hold the right to be editors. All 5 members have the right to post articles on “Sweet Newspaper”.

To unify the topic and content of the articles posted on the Fanpage, Huu Danh and other young people created chat groups to discuss.

In addition, these defendants also created the Group "Making Clean Newspapers", in which they added one more member as administrator.

"Clean Newspaper" but not clean

According to the investigation conclusion, from the establishment of the group "Sach Newspaper" until the day Truong Chau Huu Danh was arrested, the group wrote and posted many articles related to hot issues of public interest on the Fanpage and Group such as the Ho Duy Hai case, Dong Tam, drought and salinity in the West, Ton Duc Thang University - Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, forced eviction at Gia Trang Quan...

Upon hearing the news that Huu Danh was arrested by Can Tho City Police, the group members automatically left the group. T. was the one who directly deleted the Fanpage “Bao Sach”.

However, in the management of social networking sites, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (Ministry of Public Security) extracted and stored 47 posts on the Fanpage and Group of the "Sach Newspaper" group, along with posts on the personal pages of the group members.

These important documents were transferred to the Investigation Security Agency of Can Tho City Police to serve the investigation.

Truong Chau Huu Danh at the time the police searched his house. Photo: Nhan Dan newspaper

According to the results of the investigation, it was determined that of the 47 articles mentioned above, Trung Bao wrote and posted 15, Huu Danh 7, Kien Giang 14, Thanh Nha 4, and LTT only shared 1 article of another person on the Fanpage. In addition, T. was in charge of the illustrative images and videos on "Sach Newspaper". For the remaining 6 articles, the defendants did not remember who wrote and posted them.

According to the assessment, 47 articles of the “Clean Newspaper” group were in the name of fighting against negativity but in reality were negative. The content of the articles of the “Clean Newspaper” group all delved into the negative side of society and the hot issues that exist or are being solved and handled in localities and countries.

“By the way, words, content of information the account owner has expressed, mentioned to direct public opinion online to comment, share, spread more…

This clearly shows the intention of the individuals involved to propagate, distort, incite psychology, call for, incite, and entice bad elements inside and outside the country to participate in destabilizing the social situation, the country's situation, and participate in opposing and sabotaging Party organizations, the State, and local authorities. Insulting the prestige and honor of individuals who are leaders of the Party, the State, and other organizations...", the conclusion stated.

During the investigation, Can Tho City Police assigned the investigation to the Investigation Security Agency of the provinces including Binh Phuoc, Quang Ninh, Dak Nong, Bac Ninh, Quang Tri, Ninh Binh, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Phu Yen to verify and work with agencies, organizations, and individuals whose content was reflected in the article on the Fanpage "Sach Newspaper" and Huu Danh's personal Facebook.

Four provinces have responded to the investigation commission results, affirming that the content of Huu Danh's article reflects false information... Other provinces have not completed the investigation commission so have not responded to the results.

Continue investigation

During the investigation, the police also proved that the defendants in the case, through the activities of the "Clean Newspaper" page, received money to do communications, promote brands and provide legal advice to 8 businesses and individuals in many different localities with a total amount of more than 2.8 billion VND.

The conclusion stated that the investigation agency will continue to verify and clarify, if there are signs of crime, then proceed.prosecute, investigation and handling.

In addition, the investigation agency seized at the defendants' homes, email boxes... 9 documents related to the Ho Duy Hai case, Ton Duc Thang University.

The police said that the defendants' actions showed signs of committing the crime of intentionally revealing state secrets; appropriating, trading or destroying state secret objects or documents, according to Article 337 of the Penal Code.

However, due to the complexity of the matter and to ensure timely completion of the investigation of the case "Abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals", Can Tho Police have separated these acts into another case to be handled later.