The Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Wednesday 62-year-old blogger Pham Viet Dao to 15 months in prison for writing and posting articles that slandered, defamed, and assailed the Party and State on his three blogs.

>> Blogger Truong Duy Nhat jailed for ‘abusing democratic freedoms’

The blogger, a native of central Nghe An Province who now resides in Hanoi, was charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens,” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.

Dao, who was arrested on June 13, 2013 in Hanoi, had not engaged a lawyer in the case and he defended himself at yesterday’s trial.

From February 2012 to June 13, 2013 he abused the right to freedom of speech to set up three blogs to which he posted 91 articles he had written with content that slandered, defamed, and assailed the Party and State as well as distort the Party’s and State’s guidelines and policies, according to the indictment.

Dao’s acts have infringed upon State interests and the legitimate interests of organizations and citizens, the indictment said.

During the hearing, Dao admitted to posting such articles as well as feedback to them on his blogs, creating negative effects, undermining the prestige of the Party and State, and causing unrest in society.

After taking all into account, the court gave the above sentence to the blogger.

Dao is the second blogger to be jailed for abusing democratic freedoms within a fortnight.

On March 4, the central Da Nang City People’s Court sentenced blogger Truong Duy Nhat, 41, to two years behind bars on the same charge as Dao.

According to the court verdict, Nhat posted many articles written by himself and stories and comments by others on his blog from 2009 to May 25, 2013.

The judge said 11 of Nhat’s articles and one entry written by another person contained false information that “distorted the Party’s guidelines and policies and the State’s laws as well as offered a one-sided and pessimistic perspective which caused public concern and thus undermined the public trust in the leadership of the Party and in the State’s laws.”