The Ha Tinh Provincial People's Court gives a seven- year sentence to Nguyen Van Hoa for spreading anti-state propaganda on November 27
According to the indictment read at the court, Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, who lives in Ky Anh District produced and spread videos and interviews related to the Formosa environment disaster in the area that instigated anti-government protests. Hoa used Facebook account Nguyen Van Hoa (Maria Luygonjaga), and blog Luoishoa to spread documents that defamed the government.
Besides sending his articles to many other overseas broadcasting agents including the Radio Free Asia which paid Hoa USD1,500 for 16 reports, the man also contacted and co-operated with several organisations to publish and spreads other articles by anti-government individuals and organisations.
The indictment claimed that Hoa received over USD5,455 from local and overseas anti-state organisations for his activities.
In April last year, Taiwanese-owned Formosa Plastics Group's steel complex in Ha Tinh province dumped toxins into the ocean that killed hundreds of tonnes of fish along 200 kilometres of coastline in four central provinces. It was one of Vietnam's worst environmental disasters.
The incident devastated the region's seafood and tourism industries and sparked protests against Formosa and the local government for its allegedly slow response to the disaster. The Taiwanese company was ordered to pay compensation of USD500 million.