A court in Hanoi on July 7 sentenced Phan Thi Huong Thuy, a lawyer who was a former member of the Hanoi Bar Association, to 12 months in prison on allegations of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of the State and individuals” under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

Thuy, 64, was prosecuted in September 2022 for allegedly publishing three articles on her social media that allegedly defamed Nguyen Van Chien, the former Chairman of the Hanoi Bar Association and former Vice President of the Vietnam Bar Federation. Thuy told RFA that the prosecution resulted from her earlier accusation that Chien did not have a university degree. Chien, a former Vietnam National Assembly member, considered it an insult.

However, Thuy again stated that she did not intend to insult Chien and that her purpose was to ensure that those elected to the Executive Board of the Hanoi Bar Association must meet the required criteria for a university degree. In October 2020, Chien sent an application to the Internal Political Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security, requesting that they investigate whether Thuy was the owner of the Facebook account “Huong Thuy Phan” where the defaming articles were published.

The authorities later determined that between September 15, 2020, and October 2, 2020, Thuy used the “Huong Thuy Phan” Facebook account to publish eight articles defaming Chien. In addition, Thuy was also ordered to compensate Nguyen Van Chien 9 million dong and pay a court fee of 200,000 dong. According to state media, the defendant, lawyer Phan Thi Huong Thuy, and the victim, lawyer Nguyen Van Chien, were absent during the trial.