Police in the central province of Quang Tri on February 10 launched legal proceedings against two men for compiling and spreading documents with defamatory contents via social networks.
Phan Bui Bao Thi (Photo: laodong.vn)
The documents were posted on Facebook accounts like Thu Ha and Hoang Le, and such fanpages as Ly Duong Tu, Quang Tri 357, and Tin Quang Tri 246 (Quang Tri news 246).
Those articles, photos and video clips have contents defaming and insulting the prestige of individuals, including some leaders of Quang Tri province, ministries and centrally-run agencies.
They have harmed the leaders’ prestige and dignity as well as the role, position and function of State agencies for a long time, triggering concern among Party members, officials and the public, while affecting political security in the locality.
Local competent forces on February 4 stopped 56-year-old Le Anh Dung, residing in An Phu ward, district 2, Ho Chi Minh City, while he was on the way from Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province, to HCM City.
They found documents stored in Dung’s mobile phone proving that he had directly published the documents on social networks.
Dung’s accomplice is Phan Bui Bao Thi, 50, from Son Tra district, the central city of Da Nang, who is working at the Giao duc & Thoi dai (The Education and Times) newspaper.
Thi confessed that he and Dung wrote many articles defaming Quang Tri leaders and posted more than 10,000 pages on social networks.
The local police on February 5-6 decided to detain the duo for abusing the rights to freedom and democracy, and violating the State’s interests, as well as legal rights and interests of organisations and individuals as prescribed in Article 331 of the Penal Code./.VNA
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC. I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters. I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism. In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
In October 2011 Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi published my book "Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống).
In December 2013 Phu Nu Publishing House published my book "10 Core Values for Success".
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
Xem tất cả bài viết bởi Trần Đình Hoành
1 bình luận về “Men arrested for Facebook posts defaming leaders”
Of course, as a matter of common sense we should respect and work with our leaders. However, using criminal and police arrests to enforce respect is a matter of great concern, because it easily leads to abuse of power and undue restriction of citizens’ freedom of expression.
This article says nothing about what the arrestees had done,and why they did that. And what is the info they posted on Facebook. Every hard to understand what was going on.
In any event, government officials should be open for public scrutiny and criticism. That is the nature off officials’ job – the public has the right to know what they do and criticize them for what they do. The government should encourage this democratic practice, to curb abuse of power and corruption, supporting Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong in his difficult and heroic anti-corruption task.
And the standards to judge whether a citizen has committed defamation and/or abused his democratic rights in spreading information against a government official should be higher and stricter than spreading info against another normal citizen, because an official should be exposed more to public scrutiny and criticism.
If we don’t have higher and more demanding standards to judge defamation an abuse of democratic rights in cases involving government officials, and if we allow criminal law and police to get involved too quickly in arrest, abuse of police power will increase to suppress freedom of expression.
Is there any reason that civil procedures to sue the alleged defamer in court are not enough?
CVD 
Of course, as a matter of common sense we should respect and work with our leaders. However, using criminal and police arrests to enforce respect is a matter of great concern, because it easily leads to abuse of power and undue restriction of citizens’ freedom of expression.
This article says nothing about what the arrestees had done,and why they did that. And what is the info they posted on Facebook. Every hard to understand what was going on.
In any event, government officials should be open for public scrutiny and criticism. That is the nature off officials’ job – the public has the right to know what they do and criticize them for what they do. The government should encourage this democratic practice, to curb abuse of power and corruption, supporting Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong in his difficult and heroic anti-corruption task.
And the standards to judge whether a citizen has committed defamation and/or abused his democratic rights in spreading information against a government official should be higher and stricter than spreading info against another normal citizen, because an official should be exposed more to public scrutiny and criticism.
If we don’t have higher and more demanding standards to judge defamation an abuse of democratic rights in cases involving government officials, and if we allow criminal law and police to get involved too quickly in arrest, abuse of police power will increase to suppress freedom of expression.
Is there any reason that civil procedures to sue the alleged defamer in court are not enough?
This is a matter of great concern.
Please!
ThíchĐã thích bởi 1 người