Appeal court upholds sentence on Cù Huy Hà Vũ
VGP - The Supreme People’s Court maintained the original prison sentence from the first trial of Cù Huy Hà Vũ for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam”, at an appeal court held in Hà Nội on August 2.
The appeal court of the Supreme People’s Court sentenced Cù Huy Hà Vũ to seven years imprisonment (calculated from his arrest on November 5, 2010) and a three-year probation period in his residential area after serving his sentence.
The sentence took effect as from the day of sentencing.
The appeal court took place following the order and process of the law. After examining opinions of the procuracy, lawyers’ arguments and the defendant’s answers, the jury came to conclusion from evidence and argumentation at the appeal court, there were enough grounds to reject Cù Huy Hà Vũ’s appeal and maintain the first sentence.
The appeal court was chaired by Judge Nguyễn Văn Sơn from the Appeal Court of the Supreme People’s Court in Hà Nội. The representative from Supreme People’s Procuracy attended the court in power as prosecutor's supervision.
Four lawyers, Vương Thị Thanh, Trần Đình Triển, Trần Vũ Hải and Trần Quốc Thuận defended the accused at the court.
A number of people from Ba Đình district, Hà Nội, the residential locality of the defendant, some of his family members, related persons, representatives from foreign diplomatic corps, and domestic and foreign reporters attended the court.
According to the verdict of the trial of the Hà Nội People’s Court on April 4, 2011, Cù Huy Hà Vũ, who was born in 1957 and resided at No. 24, Điện Biên Phủ Street, Điện Biên Ward in Ba Đình District of Hà Nội, was accused of “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam” pursuant to Article 88, Item 1, point c of the Penal Code.
The trial’s verdict concluded that from 2009 to October 2010, Cù Huy Hà Vũ had posted many writings and interviews on the Internet and foreign radios with contents against the State of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam.
These writings and interviews distorted the Party and State’s guidelines and policies, defamed the government and State institutions and blackened the Vietnamese people’s resistance war.
The defendant was charged with “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam”./.
