Key events:

• Social Media User and Activist Persecuted Under Article 117 for Posting ‘Anti-State Propaganda’
• Facebook User in Tuyen Quang Province Imprisoned Under Article 331 for Defaming Local Judges
• National Assembly Appoints Key Government Personnel, Includes Three New Deputy Prime Ministers

Social Media User and Activist Prosecuted Under Article 117 for Posting ‘Anti-State Propaganda’

Vietnamese authorities have used Article 117 of the Penal Code, which prohibits the “distribution of anti-state propaganda,” to imprison a social media user and prosecute another person for sharing and posting information that the government alleged was politically inappropriate.

On Aug. 26, the People’s Court of Ha Tinh Province tried and sentenced Phan Dinh Sang, 57, a social media user living in Huong Khe District, to six years in prison and two years of probation under Article 117 due to his posting and sharing of information that “distorted history and slandered the authorities.” According to the provincial procuracy, between 2016 and 2023, Phan Dinh Sang had created and managed five different Facebook accounts to bring together reactionary opposition groups and associations in cyberspace “due to his dissatisfaction with the government.”