A court in Vietnam sentenced Pham Van Cho to seven years in prison and two years probation for posts he made on Facebook that insulted the country and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, state media reported.
The Hung Yen People’s Court found Cho guilty of violating Article 117 of the country’s penal code, a vaguely written law that rights groups have said the government often uses to silence dissent.
According to the Hung Yen newspaper, the indictment said that Cho, born in 1964, used the Facebook accounts "Phạm Chờ" and "Nguyễn Minh Tân" to live-stream videos, post and share images and articles with content insulting the Communist Party of Vietnam and seriously insulting Ho Chi Minh between August 2019 and November 2023.
Police arrested Cho on Jan. 3, after searching his home and confiscating three DVDs, a smartphone, and an ATM card. On the same day, Cho’s wife Pham Thi Thap surrendered two more cellphones to authorities, the report said.
The phones and the Facebook account “Nguyễn Minh Tân” were said to contain content that “insulted great people” and “distorted the guidelines and policies of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
In 2023, Vietnam arrested at least five individuals under Article 117, according to RFA’s database.
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong.