The Court of Appeal under the Supreme People’s Court has refused to commute prison sentences handed down on three defendants by the first-instance court on charges of “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam State”.
The trial was held in Hanoi on January 18-19 in response to appeals filed by the three convicts with terms ranging from three to four years’ imprisonment.
Tran Duc Thach, 58, from the central province of Nghe An and Vu Van Hung, 44, and Pham Van Troi, 38, both from Hanoi, were found guilty of hanging slogans, airing into the internet articles, granting interviews and spreading documents that distorted the Party and State’s policies.
The contents of those documents also marred the national victories in the two past wars of resistance and the current socio-economic development, according to the appeal court’s conviction.
The jury board accused that the defendants’ activities all were aimed at disturbing social stability and stirring up bad public opinion against the Party and State, that might have reduced public confidence and led to a coup d’etat.
The defendants, in the presence of their attorneys, finally pleaded guilty, and had their original sentences upheld.
Troi received the heaviest punishment with four years’ probation after serving four years’ imprisonment. Sentences on Hung and Thach included three years’ probation in addition to three years in prison, each./.
The trial was held in Hanoi on January 18-19 in response to appeals filed by the three convicts with terms ranging from three to four years’ imprisonment.
Tran Duc Thach, 58, from the central province of Nghe An and Vu Van Hung, 44, and Pham Van Troi, 38, both from Hanoi, were found guilty of hanging slogans, airing into the internet articles, granting interviews and spreading documents that distorted the Party and State’s policies.
The contents of those documents also marred the national victories in the two past wars of resistance and the current socio-economic development, according to the appeal court’s conviction.
The jury board accused that the defendants’ activities all were aimed at disturbing social stability and stirring up bad public opinion against the Party and State, that might have reduced public confidence and led to a coup d’etat.
The defendants, in the presence of their attorneys, finally pleaded guilty, and had their original sentences upheld.
Troi received the heaviest punishment with four years’ probation after serving four years’ imprisonment. Sentences on Hung and Thach included three years’ probation in addition to three years in prison, each./.
