Eight sentenced to prison for planning to foment demonstration in HCMC

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh, 44, identified as the linchpin, got eight years for "disrupting security" while Hoang Thi Ngoc Vang, 54, got seven years for the same crime.

Six others got up to five years, with the court ruling that their conduct was "extremely dangerous" and a threat to social order and national security, deserving "strict punishment."

According to the indictment, Hanh and Vang were dissatisfied with the government, always accessed "negative information" on social media and shared video clips on their Facebook page to induce people to take part in a demonstration to be held in HCMC on September 4, 2018.

Hanh and her accomplices created a secret Facebook group they called ‘Constitution.’

On August 25, 2018, they discussed plans, assigned tasks, called for donations, and readied weapons for the demonstration.

According to investigators, the group planned to organize a mass demonstration in the downtown area aimed at overthrowing the administration, but their plan was foiled by the police.

The defendants admitted to receiving money from anti-government organizations operating overseas.

With the Law on Demonstration yet to be passed following several delays, acts to incite public protests are illegal in Vietnam.