Nghe An (VNA) –The People’s Court of Dien Chau district, the centralprovince of Nghe An, on February 6 sentenced 35-year-old Hoang Duc Binh toseven years in prison on the charge of “resisting on-duty officials” andanother seven years for “abusing the rights to democracy andfreedom to infringe on the interests of the State and rights and interests oforganisations and citizens.”

During atrial on February 6, Binh’s accomplice, Nguyen Nam Phong, 38, from Son Hai commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe Anprovince received a two-year prison term on the charge of “resistingon-duty officials.”

Binh, residingin Hung Trung commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province, joined a number of organisations, associations andgroups which oppose politics such as “NoU Saigon” and “Phong trao Lao dongViet” (Vietnam Workers’ Movement).

He was arrested to serve investigations into his delivery of leaflets toincite people to join “Nghiep doan doc lap” (independence league), and receivedadministrative punishment for his violation of regulations on keeping anddistributing illegal publications and printed materials that are not publications.However, he refused to pay the fine and fled to Nghe An.

After returning to Nghe An, Binh regularly posted and shared informationand documents slandering the administration and advocating pluralism andmulti-party movements via his Facebook account.

After the environmental incident caused by Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co Ltd in four central localities, Binh, as the vicepresident of the “Phong trao Lao dong Viet”, formed the so-called “associationof fishermen in the central region,” aiming to incite parishioners andfishermen to participate in the association, and select “seeds” to trigger demonstrationsand security disturbances.

On the morning of February 14, 2017, Binh, Phong and about 300 peopledeparted from Song Ngoc Parish in Quynh Luu district to Ky Anh district of HaTinh central province on the pretext of lodging a complaint about FormosaCompany.

With banners, the crowd travelled by different means of vehicles,causing traffic jams. However, Binh requested Phong, the driver, to ignoreinstructions of traffic policemen who were working to ensure traffic order. Theircar then stopped on National Highway 1A, seriously blocking the traffic forseveral kilometers. Binh incited Phong to “resist on-duty officials.”

At theinvestigation agency and the court, Binh admitted that he used his mobile phoneto live stream what happened as well as post comments on his Facebook account.He abused the right to the freedom of speech to slander and distort the factand defame the police force.

He alsocalled on Facebook users to keep track of, publish and share the comments todefame the administration and defame the police force. His acts have seriouslyaffected the prestige, honour and interests of Nghe An police in particular andthe people’s police in general, stirring bad opinions both at home and abroad.-VNA