The People’s Court of Huong Khe district of central Ha Tinh province on August 8 sentenced Hoang Thi Son and Thai Thi Be to 15 years in prison each for “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organisations and individuals” under Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code (revised and supplemented in 2017).

Hoang Thi Son and Thai Thi Be at the court (Photo: VNA)

Ha Tinh (VNA) – The People’s Court of Huong Khe district of central Ha Tinh province on August 8 sentenced Hoang Thi Son and Thai Thi Be to 15 years in prison each for “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organisations and individuals” under Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code (revised and supplemented in 2017).

According to the indictment, from November 23, 2022 to April 19, 2023, due to their discontentment with the response of authorised agencies to their requests, Son, born in 1958 and from Huong Khe township, and Be, born in 1956 and from Huong Khe district, took advantage of their freedom of speech to post many distorted contents on their YouTube and Facebook accounts, insulting the honour and dignity of leaders of Huong Khe district and discrediting the administration and state agencies in the locality.

Son used her cellphone to post a video clip and seven articles on the social network and left many comments with wrongful and distorted contents. Particularly, the video clip with her voice seriously infringed upon the prestige and honour of the members of the Huong Khe district Citizen Reception Board and the leaders of Huong Khe district.

Meanwhile, Be posted 12 video clips on her YouTube’s account of “thi be thai” and 36 others on her account “Thai Be” with distorted and wrongful contents related to the local authorities’ processing of her requests and denunciations.

At the court, the defendants admitted their crimes and wished to receive the leniency of the law.