A Kien Giang Province court yesterday sentenced a local man to four years in jail and three years on probation for writing articles defaming the Vietnamese state and providing them to foreign websites.
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| Lu Van Bay at court. Photo: VnExpress |
Lu Van Bay, 59, of Tan Hiep town was guilty of “conducting propaganda against the state,” the Kien Giang People’s Court said.
Bay wrote dozens of articles with reactionary contents and sent them to various foreign organizations inimical to Vietnam, the procuracy had said in its indictment.
He had written under various names, including Chanh Trung, Hoang Trung Chanh, Hoang Trung Viet, Nguyen Hoang, and Tran Bao Viet.
He was arrested last March.
The former corporal under the South Vietnam regime began his reactionary career in July 1977 when he joined an organization called “Mặt Trận Liên Tôn” (the Front for Religious Union).
He was arrested the same year and sentenced to six years in prison.
Four years after being released in 1983 he wrote and sent to “Tiếng Nói Tự Do” (The Voice of Freedom) eight articles that defamed the state and the communist party.
In January 2008 his reactionary acts were discovered by the Tan Hiep District authorities. He admitted the acts were wrong and assured the local police he would stop.
However, by early 2010 he was at it again, writing under the name Tran Bao Viet and sending a number of articles slandering the party and state to overseas organizations.
At yesterday’s trial Bay pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.