On October 30, the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced two persons to prison, followed by a two-year probation period soon after their release from prison.
Tran Vu Anh Binh, 38, and Vo Minh Tri, 34, were sentenced to six and four years in prison, respectively, for conducting activities against the State.
The two will be put under a two-year probation period as soon as they are released from prison, said the court’s judge.
Some other members in their anti-state group were also fined and put under supervision of local authorities. Another member of the group, Nguyen Thien Thanh, remains wanted by the police.
According to the verdict, the two defendants conspired with hostile forces and received financial support from overseas reactionary organizations to carry out acts of sabotage against the Government of Vietnam.
Binh and Tri (under the pseudonym Viet Khang) confessed their illegal activities during investigations and the trial. Tri also filed a denunciation against some reactionary political organizations and their activities.
They also tried to enlarge the group, which distorted the truth, blackened the Communist Party, supported reactionary ideas, and conducted other activities against the State.
Under the directions of Vu Truc, who is living in the US, Binh was operating a blog named ‘Nhacviet.Tuoitreyeunuoc.com’ which had songs compiled by Binh in the penname of Hoang Nhat Thong.
Binh and Nguyen Thien Thanh (currently at large and wanted by the police), wrote and distributed anti-state leaflets in HCMC and Long An Province; made flags with yellow and three red strips ( national flag of the former Saigon regime) and put them along the high speed route in Trung Luong in Long An Province.
All the activities were filmed by Binh and Thanh and then transferred to Vu Truc to log on the website ‘tuoitreyeunuoc.com.’
In return for this, Vu Truc rewarded Binh with a camera, a laptop and US$200 for six members in the group, besides a tour of Nha Trang.
Vo Minh Tri admitted that under penname Viet Khang, he composed two songs ‘Vietnam-my pain’ and ‘Who are you’ (Anh la ai) with content to undermine the national unity and ignite political instability.
All the songs had been passed to Vu Truc and were directly logged on website ‘tuoitreyeunuoc.com.’
Apart from this, they also posted songs with reactionary content on personal blogs and on some websites with the aim to overthrow the Government of Vietnam.
