Vietnam: 3 social media activists were charged with “Abusing Democratic Freedom"
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Jun 30, 2021
- Event Description
Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Ngai have arrested three local Facebookers on the allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code for their posts on the social network most popular in the Southeast Asian nation.
Citing the information from the province’s Police Department, the state-controlled media reported that 34-year-old man Bach Van Hien, 38-year-old Phung Thanh Tuyen, and 41-year-old Le Trung Thu were detained on June 30. Their private residency was also searched by the local police.
The three men will be held in the next two months at least for investigation on the allegation of posting statuses with content criticizing the regime’s agencies including the People’s Court, the police, the army, the inspectorate, the Vietnam Central Television (VTV), and the Propaganda agency as well as the regime’s leaders.
Recently, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime has arrested many Facebookers with charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” or “abusing democratic freedom” in a bid to silence the regine’s critics. The first charge may take the convicted ones to between seven and 12 years in prison while the second allegation would take the convicted ones to stay imprisoned up to seven years.
Last month, within a week, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime convicted two Facebookers named Dang Ngoc Minh and Cao Van Dung of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for their posts and sentenced them to seven and nine years in prison, respectively.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 15.064989356686905
Longitude: 108.6413668352842
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On June 30, 2021, social media activists, Van Hien, Phung Thanh Tuyen,and Le Trung Thu were charged with “Abusing Democratic Freedom" by the police and arrested as they were posting on Facebook in Quang Ngai, Vietnam