Judgements on crimes of infringing upon national security in Vietnam under the Penal Code and some related judgments

Hello, the editorial board would like to answer the following:

1. Crimes of infringing upon national security under the Penal Code

According to the Penal Code 2015 (amended in 2017), there are 14 crimes of infringing upon national security, including:

- High treason (Article 108)

- Activities against the people's government (Article 109)

- Espionage (Article 110)

- Infringement upon territory (Article 111)

- Rebellion (Article 112)

- Terrorism to oppose the people's government (Article 113)

- Sabotaging facilities of Socialist Republic of Vietnam; (Article 114)

- Sabotaging implementation of socio-economic policies (Article 115)

- Sabotaging implementation of solidarity policies (Article 116)

- Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Article 117)

- Disruption of security (Article 118)

- Disruption of detention facilities (Article 119)

- Organizing, coercing, instigating illegal emigration for the purpose of opposing the people's government (Article 120)

- Illegal emigration for the purpose of opposing the people's government (Article 121)

The highest penalty for this group of crimes can be “death penalty”.

2. Judgements on crimes of infringing upon national security in Vietnam

Here are some judgements on crimes of infringing upon national security in Vietnam.

Judgment 118/2021/HS-PT dated March 24, 2021, on charges of activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration

- Level of trial: Appellate.

- Judicial body: Hanoi High People's Court.

- Quoted from the content: Tran Duc Th is arranged in the same cell as Nguyen Van D. Th, who came up with the idea of establishing the "Democratic Brotherhood" to gather people who have been sentenced for crimes of national security who have finished their prison terms, students, "plaintiffs" to complain, religious subjects, intellectuals, and "radicals" in the Communist Party of Vietnam for the purpose of "raising people's awareness". After serving the prison sentence, Tran Duc Th and D, Th, T1, Tr1, and Tr2 discussed and agreed to establish the "Democratic Brotherhood" with the political point of view of building a pluralistic, multi-party democratic political system with a political system of "separation of powers" in Vietnam. The activities of the association include posting untruthful information on social networks: The content of documents contains content that distorts, opposes, and defames the people's administration; The information is fabricated, causing confusion and frustration among the people; The information content causes psychological warfare... On December 15, 2015, the Investigation Security Agency of the Ministry of Public Security initiated a criminal case against the above subjects.

Judgment 23/2020/HS-ST dated July 2, 2020 on the crime of propagating information and documents aimed at opposing the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

- Level of trial: First instance.

- Judicial body: People's Court of Dak Nong province.

- Quoted from the content: In early 2018, Dinh Van P used his Facebook account to live stream and participate in live broadcasts on social networks, giving information and documents that were not officially published and had distorted or fabricated content about the political and social situation in Vietnam and historical events of the country in order to distort and defame the people's administration and oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; inciting and creating psychology against the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and participating in activities calling for the overthrow of the people's government. Conducting a search of P's residence, the investigative Security Agency seized many evidences related to anti-sabotage activities. Therefore, the act of defendant Dinh Van P was guilty of the crime of "Propaganda of information and documents to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," and the court sentenced Dinh Van P to 08 (eight) years in prison.

Judgements on charges of activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration No. 343/2022/HSPT

- Level of trial: Appellate.

- Judicial body: Hanoi High People's Court.

- Quoted from the content: In 2010, Floor A L organized the establishment of the butt state, propagandized against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam led by Trang A C, was prosecuted, and then fled. In August 2018, Sung A S contacted the A L Floor to discuss and agree on rebuilding the organization to overthrow the People's Government and destroy the political system prescribed by the Constitution. The way to establish a Hmong state is to rob land, rob the government, and replace the government of district M, Dien Bien province, with a separate Hmong government, owned by the Mong people, with its own organizational apparatus. The organization that established the Mongol state, led by Sung A S, Lau A L was discovered and arrested by the Investigation Agency. After that, the defendants Ly Giang K, Thao A Ch, Vu A P, and Ho A T continued to carry out the act of "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government". On January 15, 2020, the Investigation Security Agency of Dien Bien Provincial Police decided to resume the investigation of the criminal case "Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration" that occurred in M district, Dien Bien province, against the defendants Ly Giang K (another name: Ly Gi).

Judgment 109/2018/HSST dated April 16, 2018 on espionage and property appropriation

- Level of trial: First instance.

- Judicial body: Ho Chi Minh City People's Court.

- Quoted from the content: On September 20, 2016, September 22, 2016, September 29, 2016 and September 30, 2016, Nguyen Hoang D (a former police officer) repeatedly called by phone. electricity; email address ; send a message offering to sell the documents that D has collected with the content: Currently, D has a confidential document of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam for sale and requests to contact D again, but has not received a response from the foreign ambassador, whom D called and texted. Also on September 30, 2016, defendant D entered the Facebook page of foreign individuals to send a message with the content of offering confidential documents of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, but did not receive a response. On October 2, 2016, when Nguyen Hoang D went to LM Casino to withdraw VND 2,000,000 from Nguyen Ngoc Kim L's account, which was loaned to Nguyen Hoang D by Mr. Nguyen Van L - an officer of the Department of Civil Defense, General Department A - Ministry of Public Security, D was arrested by the CPC and handed over to the Vietnamese Police. After the prosecution and trial of the case, defendant Nguyen Hoang D was sentenced to 07 (seven) years in prison for the crime of "spying".

Judgment the crime of propagating information to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam No. 80/2022/HS-PT

- Level of trial: Appellate.

- Judicial body: Hanoi High People's Court.

- Quoted from the content: Around the end of 2018, Tran Quoc Kh, through his Facebook account, set up and used the "Citizen Voice" Fanpage to interact and attract public attention to his views. Kh used the Fanpage "Voice of Citizens" to live stream many videos (Livestream) in public form with content containing information that distorts, fabricates, defames the government, denies, calls for the removal of the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam, calls for pluralism, multi-party, and separation of powers, causes confusion among the people, and aims to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In addition, Kh publicly posted the draft charter of the "Vietnam Democratic Association," consisting of 07 chapters and 23 articles, on the "Voice of Citizens" Fanpage for the online community to comment on. On March 9, 2021, the Investigation Security Agency of Ninh Binh Provincial Police has issued a decision to prosecute a criminal case and prosecute the accused against Tran Quoc Kh for the crime of "making, storing, spreading, or propagating information and documents.

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