How many years of imprisonment are imposed on the act of operation of pornographic websites in Vietnam? What are judgments related to this offense?

How many years of imprisonment are imposed on the act of operation of pornographic websites in Vietnam?

A person who operates a pornographic website may be prosecuted for the criminal offense of "Distribution pornographic materials" as stipulated in Article 326 of the Vietnam Criminal Code 2015 (amended 2017) with the following levels of penalties:

Level 1: Any person who produces, duplicates, circulates, transports, buys, sells, stores for the purpose of disseminating books, newspapers, pictures, photos, films, music, or other items with obscene, depraved content or conducts other acts of distribution pornographic materials in one of the following cases shall be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND, community sentence for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years:

- Digitized data has a capacity from 1 gigabyte (GB) to less than 5 gigabytes (GB);

- Photos in quantities from 100 to less than 200;

- Printed books, newspapers or other items in quantities from 50 units to less than 100 units;

- Disseminated to 10 to 20 people;

- Previously administratively sanctioned for one of the acts stipulated in this Article or previously convicted for this offense, but the record has not been expunged and continues to violate.

Level 2: Committing the offense in one of the following cases shall be subject to imprisonment from 3 years to 10 years:

- Organized crime;

- Digitized data has a capacity from 5 gigabytes (GB) to less than 10 gigabytes (GB);

- Photos in quantities from 200 to less than 500;

- Printed books, newspapers or other items in quantities from 100 units to less than 200 units;

- Disseminated to 21 to 100 people;

- Disseminated to persons under 18 years of age;

- Using the internet, computer networks, telecommunications networks or electronic means to commit the crime;

- Dangerous recidivism.

Level 3: Committing the offense in one of the following cases shall be subject to imprisonment from 7 years to 15 years:

- Digitized data has a capacity of 10 gigabytes (GB) or more;

- Photos in quantities of 500 or more;

- Printed books, newspapers or other items in quantities of 200 units or more;

- Disseminated to 101 people or more.

Additional penalties: The offender may also be fined from 5,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND, banned from engaging in certain professions or performing certain jobs from 1 year to 5 years.

If a person operates a pornographic website and meets the elements of a crime, depending on the nature and extent of the violation, the offender may be prosecuted according to each of the sentencing frameworks mentioned above. The highest penalty for this act is 15 years of imprisonment if the crime falls into one of the cases such as: digitizing data with a capacity of 10 gigabytes (GB) or more; disseminating to 101 people or more;...

What are judgments related to the operation of pornographic websites in Vietnam?

Below is a collection of judgments related to the operation of pornographic websites adjudicated by the courts in Vietnam:

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