General practitioner sentenced to 4 years in prison for anti-state propaganda
On February 1, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City tried and sentenced Ho Van Hai (54 years old, residing in District 5, doctor at Asia General Clinic) to 4 years in prison and 2 years of probation for the crime of Propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
 |
| Defendant Hai in court - Photo: Tuyet Mai |
According to the indictment, based on collected documents and evidence, at 9:30 a.m. on November 2, 2016, the Investigation Security Agency - Ho Chi Minh City Police urgently searched the Asia General Clinic (in Linh Tay Ward, Thu Duc District) and discovered that Ho Van Hai was using the clinic's computer to access the internet to exercise administrative rights on the blog bshohai and using Facebook to spread many articles with distorted content, slandering the Party and the State.
The investigation showed that in 1989, Hai graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy with a major in general medicine. After that, Hai worked at Cho Ray Hospital for a while and then quit to practice medicine at general clinics.
During his time working at Asia General Clinic, Hai often went online to find out domestic and foreign news, and to learn about the economic and political situation in Vietnam.
Hai saw many websites posting articles that slandered and distorted the political and economic policies of the Vietnamese government.
Since 2009, Hai created and used the blog bshohai and Facebook account to write and post many articles about the economic, political and social situation of Vietnam and the world.
But in early 2015, taking advantage of important political events that were taking place and were about to take place in the country, Hai drafted and published many articles with content that defamed and slandered senior leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam, distorted policies and guidelines, called on people to participate in protests against Formosa, participate in civil disobedience movements, not comply with the Party and State's policies and guidelines, boycotted elections for People's Councils at all levels...
Of the 75 articles posted online and stored on Hai's computer, 36 violated the provisions of Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP of the government on management, provision and use of Internet services and information on the network.
In court, defendant Hai admitted the above acts.
