The defendants at the two-day appeal trial in Can Tho city (Source: VNA) The five defendants were found guilty of “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organisations and individuals” under Clause 2 of Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code (revised and supplemented in 2017).
At the appeal trial, the court upheld the prison term of four years and six months for Truong Chau Huu Danh (born in 1982, living in Long An province), three years each for Doan Kien Giang (born in 1985, Ho Chi Minh City) and Le The Thang (born in 1982, Hanoi), and two years each for Nguyen Thanh Nha (born in 1980, HCM City) and Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao (born in 1982, Da Nang city).
They were also banned from journalism practice for three years after their jail terms finish.
According to the jury, the defendants posted many articles on the Facebook fanpages named “Bao Sach” and “Lam Bao Sach” (doing clean journalism), a Youtube channel named “BS Channel”, and their personal Facebook pages with content causing “non-material” damage, affecting the prestige and honour of the organisations and individuals assigned with management tasks, and undermining people’s trust in the Party and State.
In addition, they worked in journalism but took advantage of the job to commit wrongdoings, so the additional penalty of prohibiting them from journalism practice doesn’t run counter to legal regulations, the jury concluded./.
VNA
