The defendants at the two-day appeal trial in Can Tho city (Source: VNA) The five defendants were found guiltyof “abusingthe rights to freedom and democracy to violate the interests of the State, the rightsand legitimate interests of organisations and individuals” under Clause 2 ofArticle 331 of the 2015 Penal Code (revised and supplemented in 2017).
At the appeal trial, the court upheldthe prison term of four years and six months for Truong Chau Huu Danh (born in1982, living in Long An province), three years each for Doan Kien Giang (bornin 1985, Ho Chi Minh City) and Le The Thang (born in 1982, Hanoi), and twoyears each for Nguyen Thanh Nha (born in 1980, HCM City) and Nguyen Phuoc TrungBao (born in 1982, Da Nang city).
They were also bannedfrom journalism practice for three years after their jail terms finish.
According to the jury, the defendantsposted many articles on the Facebook fanpages named “Bao Sach” and “Lam BaoSach” (doing clean journalism), a Youtube channel named “BS Channel”, and theirpersonal Facebook pages with content causing “non-material” damage, affectingthe prestige and honour of the organisations and individuals assigned withmanagement tasks, and undermining people’s trust in the Party and State.
In addition, they worked in journalismbut took advantage of the job to commit wrongdoings, so the additional penaltyof prohibiting them from journalism practice doesn’t run counter to legalregulations, the jury concluded./.
VNA
