Vietnam arrests blogger for defaming state leaders

By VnExpress December 18, 2016 | 12:07 am PT

The man has posted more than 700 video clips that defame state leaders, according to police.

Police in the central province of Thanh Hoa arrested a man for publishing defamatory video clips about top government and Communist Party leaders.

Since October of 2015, Nguyen Danh Dung has used a blog (Tinhhinhdatnuocvietnam-Vietnam today), two Facebook pages (ThienAn and QuachThienAn) and a Youtube account (ThienAn TV) to post more than 700 videos acccording to Tran Trung Hieu, spokesman of Thanh Hoa Police.

Dung aggregated video content from hostile websites and social media accounts, edited them and posted the final results on his sites, VietnamPlus reported on Sunday.

Dung has been accused of abusing democratic rights in attempting to damage the interests of the State, organizations and citizens.

Police have decided to launch a criminal investigation into the case.

Last month, authorities in the central province of Khanh Hoa also arrested Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, and accused her of publishing distorted stories and videos about the government and Party.

They said Quynh ran a blog and Facebook page as Me Nam (Mother Mushroom) since 2012.

She has been accused of abusing democratic rights, distorting facts and attempting to subvert the government and the Party.

The same month, another facebooker, Ho Van Hai, (also known as “Ho Hai”) was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for distributing documents and information designed to undermine the state.

The People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy to five and three years in prison each for anti-state blog posts in March. An appeals court upheld their sentences in October.

> Vietnam court upholds jail terms for bloggers