Man jailed for 'abusing freedom, democratic rights'

A court in Binh Thuan province on Wednesday sentenced a man to three years in prison for "abusing the rights to freedom and democracy" by posting "distorted content" on his Facebook account.

"The abuse has violated the State's interests and the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals under Article 331 of the 2017 Penal Code," the ruling stated.

Le Chi Thanh, 39, residing in the south-central province's Ham Tan district, was found guilty of using his Facebook account of the same name to post articles and video clips "containing distorted contents".

Binh Thuan's investigative agency found that the contents and words of Le Chi Thanh in his videos about Colonel Le Ba Thuy, a warden of Z30D Prison, and another officer are "distorted and untruthful".

At the trial, the defendant testified he had been upset by "Colonel Le Ba Thuy having built a fence by his gate," prompting him to file a complaint against the officer.

Though the denunciation had not been fully verified, Thanh continued to post clips denouncing Colonel Thuy.

Thanh later admitted the clips, broadcast on social media, contained distorted and untrue content.

Thanh was once a captain working at Xuan Loc Prison in the southern province of Dong Nai. However, he was then relieved from the public security force due to violations of Ministry of Public Security regulations.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-January handed Thanh a jail sentence of two years for "resisting on-duty officials".