Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh aka facebooker Me Nam on trial for a charge on conducting anti-State propaganda under Clause 1 of Article 88 of the Penal Code (Photo: VNA) Khanh Hoa (VNA) – The People’s Court in the south central province of Khanh Hoa on June 29 opened the first instance trial against Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh who was charged with conducting anti-State propaganda under Clause 1 of Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Quynh, born on July 18, 1979, resided in Vinh Phuoc ward of Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province. She was prosecuted and arrested by the Investigation Security Agency of the Khanh Hoa Department of Public Security on October 10, 2016.
According to the indictment announced by the provincial People’s Procuracy, Quynh opened a Facebook account in 2010 named “Me Nam” (Mother Mushroom) which was later renamed “Me Nam Gau”, “Nguyen Nhu Quynh” and “Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh”.
From 2012 to October 2016, she used her Facebook page to draft, post and share articles with false and groundless contents that distorted, criticised and defamed the guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam and law of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, falsified Vietnam’s revolutionary history and split the national unity bloc.
Those articles gave one-sided and superficial views that stirred up public worries and affected people’s trust in the Party’s leadership and the State’s governance and management of society, and incited people to resist the State, thus harming national security and social order and safety, the indictment said.
From 2013 to 2016, Quynh also gave interviews to foreign press and media outlets, in which she distorted the domestic situation in many fields, from history, economy, politics, defence, diplomacy, law to democracy and human rights.
In 2014, she collected information from online newspapers about 31 people who reportedly died after working with police and then created a file named “Stop police killing civilians” to post on her Facebook page.
However, Quynh did not thoroughly learn about the official information about the outcomes of the investigations and settlement of these cases provided by authorised agencies. Instead, she intentionally distorted the truth with the aim of making readers wrongly understand the nature of the issues, insulted and lowered the prestige of the people’s public security force, and blighted the relationship between the people and the public security force.
Quynh also organised or took part in activities and events which aimed to incite people to oppose the State, according to the indictment.
A representative of the People’s Procuracy of Khanh Hoa province said this charge is subject to a sentence of between 3-12 years in prison.
The trial is scheduled to last for two days, with three lawyers defending the accused.-VNA
VNA
