Background

Dang Nhu Quynh is a well-known Facebooker who works and lives in Hanoi. Prior to arrest, he was running a Facebook account with more than 317,000 followers which focuses on social, political and economic issues in Vietnam. History of Activism

According to State media, in 2020, Dang Nhu Quynh was summoned by the Hanoi police for his Facebook posts discussing Covid issues in Vietnam.

Details of Imprisonment

On April 12, 2022, Dang Nhu Quynh was arrested for allegedly posting “unverified information" on his Facebook account. He was charged under Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms."

According To An Xo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, Quynh was accused of using social media to post articles and “unverified information" about certain individuals and businesses in finance, the stock market, and real estate. Quynh's actions “negatively affected the state’s finance and stock market,” Xo said.

Prior to arrest, Dang Nhu Quynh had recently posted several articles about the cases of finance mogul Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC Group who had been arrested for stock market manipulation, and Do Anh Dung, the chairman of property developer Tan Hoang Minh Group who was arrested for bond-issuance fraud. In the posts, Quynh predicted that the government would continue prosecuting persons and company leaders that are guilty of similar crimes.

October 2022:

On October 27, a Hanoi court sentenced Dang Nhu Quynh, a 42-year-old Facebooker with over 300,000 followers, to two years in prison for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Prosecutors said that on April 2 Quynh posted information about Do Anh Dung, chairman of the joint stock company Tan Hoang Minh, claiming that Dung was being criminally investigated. However, it was not until April 5 that Dung’s investigation was revealed by police. The state further alleged that Quynh later posted unsubstantiated news about an investigation against Nguyen Van Tuan, chairman of joint stock companies Gelex and Viglacera, causing the share prices for these companies to drop precipitously, and leading to a loss in capitalization of 11,000 billion dong (US $500 million). Quynh was ultimately not charged for his posts about Do Anh Dung since the latter was under investigation anyway. However, according to prosecutors, Quynh allegedly admitted in court that his posts on Nguyen Van Tuan were just speculation on his part and done only to gain likes.

43-year-old Mr Quynh, owner of a Fb account with over 300,000 followers, had his 2-year jail sentence upheld on 14 Feb , by Hanoi court.