Hanoi woman sentenced to jail for anti-State activities

A woman in Hanoi has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for the charge of “taking advantage of the rights to freedom and democracy to infringe upon State interests, legitimate rights and interests of organisations and individuals” in accordance with Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code.

The defendant was Nguyen Thi Thuy, 44, residing in O Cho Dua ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi.

An indictment presented by the Hanoi People’s Procuracy at a trial on July 21 stated that Thuy was head of a law office that was licensed in April 2012 and based in O Cho Dua ward. On October 1, 2012, the office announced the suspension of its operation for two years, starting from December 1, 2012.

On February 12, 2019, the municipal Justice Department decided to revoke its license for reason that the office did not resume operation from December 1, 2014.

In 2017, Thuy, in her capacity as lawyer and head of the Nguyen Dang law office, joined in protecting legitimate rights and interests of Tran Quang Ngu, 69, residing in the outlying district of Ba Vi, who was arrested and prosecuted in 1990 for “fraud to appropriate socialist assets”.

In the process of protecting rights of Ngu, Thuy said he was wrongly accused and illegally arrested. She later wrote two documents that hurted the prestige and honour of several Party and State leaders and sent them to ministries and agencies, thus exerting pressure on them to follow her proposal.

The council of judges concluded that Thuy took advantage of the rights to freedom and democracy to compile and disseminate documents distorting and insulting the prestige, honour and dignity of State leaders, affecting the prestige of individuals and organisations and disturbing social security and order as well as activities of the State agencies.

During the investigation, the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry on July 16, 2020 concluded that Thuy suffered from medium-level maniac depression, leading to her limited cognitive ability and behaviour control. The judges thus decided to partly reduce her sentence./.