VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People's Supreme Court on Friday, Aug 16, announced reduced sentences for Dinh Nguyen Kha and Nguyen Phuong Uyen who had "conducted propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam".

In the court of appeals, Kha, 25, of Ward 6 in southern Long An Province's Tan An City, had his eight-year jail sentence cut by half.

Uyen, 21, of Ham Tri Commune in central Binh Thuan Province's Ham Thuan Bac District had her six-year jail sentence commuted to a three-year suspended sentence plus a consecutive 52-month probation period.

Uyen had been a third-year student at the HCM City University of Food Industry.

According to the indictment of the provincial People's Procuracy, between April and May last year Kha and Uyen made the acquaintance through Facebook of Nguyen Thien Thanh, who was living in Thailand.

Thanh persuaded them to join in the so-called "Tuoi tre yeu nuoc" (Patriotic Youth) group, a reactionary organisation of which Thanh was a member.

Incited by Thanh, Kha and Uyen produced, stored and circulated anti-State documents.

In August last year, they erected a yellow flag with three red stripes, the flag of the former Sai Gon regime, and a banner that defamed the Communist Party of Viet Nam in public spaces in Tan An City and Ham Tri Commune.

They then took photographs of the scenes and sent them to Thanh to publish on the Tuoi tre yeu nuoc website.

Then in October 10 last year, they scattered leaflets on the An Suong flyover in Ba Diem Commune in HCM City's Hoc Mon District.

Under the direction of Thanh, via the internet, both Kha and Uyen acted against the Vietnamese State.

They were charged with "conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam" stipulated in Point C, Clause 1, Article 88 of the Penal Code.

Source: VNS