The Long An Province People’s Court has given a suspended 15-month sentence to a 30-year-old man, Dinh Nhat Uy, who posted wrong information that distorted the country’s actual situation and damaged the reputation of State agencies.

>> Anti-State inciters receive commuted sentences >> Nguyen Phuong Uyen indicted on anti-state charges >> Anti-State leafleteers sentenced to 6-8 years Uy, a local man in the southern province's Tan An City, 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. According to the indictment, Dinh Nhat Uy set up an account on Facebook and used it for social contacts with his friends.  In November 2012, Uy’s younger brother, Dinh Nguyen Kha, was arrested on charges of “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. After Kha’s arrest, Uy began to use his Facebook page to post articles, images and information with untrue and distorted contents that defame the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and many organizations and individuals. Uy also published such articles and images on his blog, causing harm to the prestige of State agencies, and legitimate rights and interests of some organizations and individuals. Uy was arrested on June 15, 2013. As previously reported, two young people who had conducted propaganda against the State had their sentences reduced considerably at the appeal trial by the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on August 16. At the court, Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, (Uy’s brother) and Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, who were charged with “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, were given commutation.

Accordingly, after considering their appeals and related arguments, the court decided to sentence Kha to a four-year jail term, instead of 8 years’ imprisonment previously given by a lower court.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Phuong Uyen had her six-year jail term reduced to a three-year suspended sentence and a 52-month probation.