Hanoi hands down five-year imprisonment to anti-State Facebooker

Tran Hoang Minh at the court (Photo: anninhthudo)

Hanoi (VNA) - The Hanoi People’s Court on July 20 opened the first-instance trial involving Tran Hoang Minh, 31, residing in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi on charge of “taking advantage of the rights to freedom and democracy to infringe upon State interests, legitimate rights and interests of organisations and individuals” in accordance with Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code.

According to the indictment of the Hanoi People's Procuracy, via the personal Facebook account named “Tran Hoang Minh” and Facebook group “Chủ nghĩa xã hội không có gương mặt con người” (Socialism without human face), Minh posted articles blackening the Party and State, slandering and insulting leaders of the Hanoi police.

The court said Minh’s behaviours directly violated the State administrative management order, affecting the leadership, legitimate rights and interests of the Communist Party of Vietnam, breaching the interests of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and harming political security, social order and safety.

At the court, he admitted the violations as shown in the indictment and expressed remorse for his behaviors. Therefore, the board of judges agreed to reduce his sentence to five years behind bars./.