Independent journalist Le Manh Ha was sentenced after two days of trial, with Human Rights Watch saying he did nothing wrong but speak up for people who are complaining about land grabbing.
At noon on October 25, the People’s Court of Tuyen Quang province sentenced Mr. Le Manh Ha to eight years in prison and five years of probation on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
Ha’s first-instance trial took place after being postponed twice in September, lasting from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon at the provincial court headquarters. He was defended by four lawyers named Le Van Luan, Le Quyen, Nguyen Tien Nghia, and Le Dinh Viet.
His wife, Ma Thi Tho, was allowed to be in the courtroom. Many of her husband’s relatives and friends were also able to watch the trial in the next room.
A lawyer participating in the trial told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said:
“According to the group of defense lawyers, the sentence is fair. The lawyers gave many grounds to prove that Mr. Le Manh Ha did not violate Article 117.
Based on the progress of the court session from the questioning to the argument, the judgment does not reflect the true nature of the matter.”
The lawyer said that the assessment by the Department of Information and Communications of Tuyen Quang province on Mr. Le Manh Ha’s articles was groundless and the assessor was not present at the court hearing during the interrogation, leading to failure to clarify the unreasonable or contradictory things stated in the assessment conclusion.
This attorney also said that in the argument with the lawyer, most of the representatives of the Procuracy did not respond to the argument thoroughly, the judgment only briefly recorded and simplified the defense views of the group of lawyers.
According to the indictment, Mr. Le Manh Ha made 21 video clips and 13 articles with the content of “propaganda against the socialist state of Vietnam” and posted them on two Facebook pages “Land petitioners and a journalist” and “Hydropower land petitions,” and the YouTube channel “Tieng Dan TV Le Ha.”
Which, 14 videos are accused of violating “propaganda, distorting and defaming the people’s administration” while seven videos have content of “psychological warfare, inciting the war of aggression, division and hatred between the nationalities and peoples of different countries” according to Article 16 of the Law on Cybersecurity.
According to the indictment, nine videos and nine articles have content that is “falsified, fabricated to cause confusion among the people” according to Article 16 of the Law on Cybersecurity, and one video and one article with “distorting content, denying revolutionary achievements, and undermining the policy of national unity.”
Ms. Ma Thi Tho told reporters that when he was given his last words in the trial, Mr. Le Manh Ha asserted that he was innocent and only exercised his right to freedom of speech.
“When he said his last words, Le Manh Ha admitted that he was innocent, saying that all of his actions showed patriotism and expressed his own political views, but did not intend to oppose the Government nor slander the people’s administration.”
She also said that her husband proposed to abolish Article 117 of the Criminal Code and Article 16 of the Cybersecurity Law right at the court.
Right after the trial panel announced the verdict, Mr. Le Manh Ha announced his appeal against the first-instance judgment.
Before the verdict was announced, Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), issued a press release saying that the Vietnamese government should release prisoners of conscience like Mr. Ha to “become responsible, contributing members of the United Nations Human Rights Council.” He asserted:
“With the application of draconian laws like this on a daily basis, it is hard to see Vietnam becoming a modern country that respects the rights of its people and is respected by the international community.”
According to a representative of a New York-based human rights organization (USA), citizen journalist Le Manh Ha “didn’t do anything wrong when using the Internet to voice the complaints of land rights claimants.” belts and other citizens are suffering injustice at the hands of government officials.”
Mr. Le Manh Ha, born in 1970, was arrested in mid-January this year on charges of “making, storing, distributing or propagating information, documents, and items aimed at opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Male” according to Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
Previously, his family lived in Na Hang district but had to move to Tuyen Quang city in 2004 due to the construction of Tuyen Quang Hydroelectricity.
Because the compensation for relocation is not satisfactory, his family and hundreds of households have complained in many places from the provincial to the central level for many years without being resolved.
Mr. Ha owns the YouTube channel Tiếng Dân TV Le Ha and a Facebook account called “Voice of the People TV – Voice of the Vietnamese people” specializing in providing legal advice to people who have lost their land in claiming their legitimate rights and reporting on petitioners across the country.
Since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has convicted six activists and Facebookers of “disseminating documents aimed at the State” with sentences ranging from five to eight years in prison, bringing the total number of prisoners of conscience convicted under this charge to rise to 49 along with to 12 people still being detained during pre-trial detention.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
