5-year prison sentence for blogger Ba Sam upheld

On September 22, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial for the case of abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens against defendants Nguyen Huu Vinh (blogger Ba Sam) and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy.

Previously, on March 23, the Hanoi People's Court held the first instance trial of this case. Many domestic and foreign reporters followed and reported on the trial. There were 6 lawyers participating in defending the defendants at the appeal trial.

Defendant Nguyen Huu Vinh (60 years old, permanent residence in Trung Tu ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi), residing in Ciputra urban area, Xuan La ward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi. Defendant Vinh was the former Director of V Investigation and Protection Company Limited.

The accomplice of the defendant Vinh is the defendant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy (36 years old, residing at Thanh Cong Collective Housing Area, Thanh Cong Ward, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi). The defendant Thuy used to be the accountant for the defendant Vinh at V Investigation and Protection Company Limited.

Defendants Nguyen Huu Vinh and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy in the appeal trial.

According to the indictment of the Hanoi People's Procuracy and the first instance judgment of the Hanoi People's Court, in 2000, Mr. Vinh registered to establish and became the Director of V. Investigation and Protection Company Limited.

In September 2013, Mr. Vinh established, managed and used two blogs "Citizenship" and "Copying Vietnamese History". Mr. Vinh shared with Ms. Thuy some administrative rights of this blog such as: the right to write, edit, delete, post articles to the blog, and censor comments.

Mr. Vinh also directed a number of people to collect articles from newspapers, take the articles, copy, cut, edit, and send them to Mr. Vinh and Ms. Thuy via email...

The Ministry of Public Security's investigation agency determined that Mr. Vinh and Ms. Thuy used the two blogs to post more than 2,000 articles, many of which contained content opposing the Party and the State.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has concluded that: “24 articles have untrue and baseless content, distorting the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws; defaming individuals, affecting the reputation of agencies and organizations; causing confusion and anxiety, affecting the people's trust in the leadership of the Party, Government, National Assembly and the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” such as: “Democracy cannot be a “pie in the sky”, “Some thoughts on the current situation and tasks”, “A heartfelt letter from the national uprising force”, “Irresponsible and shameless”…

The investigation determined that from the time it was established until Mr. Vinh and Ms. Thuy were arrested, the blog "Dan Quyen" had posted 2,014 articles, 38,567 comments and had 3,243,330 visitors; the blog "Chép sử Việt" had posted 383 articles, 3,401 comments and had 480,353 visitors, of which 24 articles contained false and baseless content.

The two blogs “Civil Rights” and “Scribe” have had more than 3.7 million visitors, many of whom responded with negative content, drawn to the viewpoints of the posted articles.

At the first instance trial, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Huu Vinh to 5 years in prison and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy to 3 years in prison for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens under Article 258 of the Penal Code. After the first instance trial, both defendants appealed, claiming their innocence and requesting their release.

During the trial, 6 lawyers argued in turn to defend the defendants and requested a review of the process of searching and appraising the articles. The representative of the Procuracy affirmed that the process of searching the defendants' residences was carried out in accordance with legal procedures; the appraisal of the articles by the Ministry of Information and Communications was also within its authority and in accordance with regulations...

The appellate panel found that the first instance judgment was well-founded, that defendants Nguyen Huu Vinh and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy had taken advantage of democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens, and that defendant Nguyen Huu Vinh was the mastermind.

The panel of judges did not accept the appeal, decided to uphold the original criminal verdict, and sentenced defendant Nguyen Huu Vinh to 5 years in prison and defendant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy to 3 years in prison, with the prison terms set from May 5, 2014.

According to CAND