Sentenced Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang to 9 years in prison
The indictment alleges that Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang must bear criminal responsibility for repeatedly creating, storing, and circulating documents with content aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
On December 14, the Hanoi People's Court brought defendant Pham Thi Doan Trang (born 1978, living in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) to trial for the crime of "Propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".
According to the accusation, between November 16, 2017 and December 5, 2018, Ms.Pham Thi Doan TrangComposing, storing, or circulating documents and articles with content aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
On November 16, 2017, Ms. Trang possessed documents containing psychological warfare propaganda, spreading fabricated news to cause panic among the people; propagating information distorting the guidelines and policies of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and defaming the people's government.
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| Defendant Pham Thi Doan Trang in court. |
During the working process with the police agency, on November 16, 2017, Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang confirmed that she was the author of the "Report - Research: Evaluation of the Law on Belief and Religion in 2016 and the situation of implementing the right to freedom of religious belief" seized by the Investigation Agency.
Ms. Trang also confessed that the report was written by her and her group of authors in English around October 2017, then translated into Vietnamese and posted, circulated (propagandized) online.
According to the accusation, on August 9, 2018, Ms. Doan Trang gave an interview to the foreign station BBC News Vietnamese, making statements that propagated psychological warfare, spread rumors, and fabricated to cause confusion among the people through the live broadcast "Online Roundtable - BBC News Vietnamese (Thursday, August 9, 2018)".
On December 5, 2018, Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang gave an interview on Radio Free Asia (RFA), made statements and disseminated information that distorted the guidelines and policies of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and slandered the people's government in the article "Pham Thi Doan Trang: "The middle class in Vietnam has no desire for democracy and freedom" posted on December 5, 2018 with an audio file (mp3).
The indictment alleges that Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang must bear criminal responsibility for repeatedly creating, storing, and circulating documents with content aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
On the same afternoon, the People's Court sentenced the defendant to 9 years in prison.
