Dang Nhu Quynh
Current Status: Likely released - at risk
Other Names: Đặng Như Quỳnh
Date of Birth: November 15, 1980
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Blogger
Areas of Activism:
- Women's rights
- Public health
- Anti-corruption
- Economic reform
Details
Immediate Concerns
February 2023:
The appeal trial of Facebooker Dang Nhu Quynh, unsurprisingly, resulted in no change to his two-year sentence for posting “anti-state propaganda” on his social media account. Additionally, the Hanoi court denied Quynh’s request to return the Samsung phone that belongs to his daughter, even though he never used it to post the “anti-state” comments.
BackgroundDang Nhu Quynh is a well-known Facebooker who works and lives in Hanoi. Prior to arrest, he was running a Facebook account with more than 317,000 followers which focuses on social, political and economic issues in Vietnam.
Profile photo source: Tuoi Tre Online
History of ActivismAccording to State media, in 2020, Dang Nhu Quynh was summoned by the Hanoi police for his Facebook posts discussing Covid issues in Vietnam.
March, 2020: summoned due to 2020 Facebook posts on Covid issues
Police summons
March, 2020
Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control (A05)
Cau Giay district (map)
In 2020, Quynh was summoned by the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Public Security (A05) for more than 200 Facebook posts he wrote about “unverified news" related to Covid issues in Vietnam. Quynh then was ordered to “remove" all of those posts from his account.
Sentenced to 2 years in prison under Art. 331 (2015 Code). Expected Release is April 12, 2024.
April 12, 2022
- Art. 331 (2015 Code)
Ministry of Public Security
Me Tri ward, Nam Tu Liem district (map)
October 27, 2022 - Date of trial
The People's Court of Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi
2 years in prison
April 12, 2024
Details of Imprisonment
On April 12, 2022, Dang Nhu Quynh was arrested for allegedly posting “unverified information" on his Facebook account. He was charged under Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms."
According To An Xo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, Quynh was accused of using social media to post articles and “unverified information" about certain individuals and businesses in finance, the stock market, and real estate. Quynh's actions “negatively affected the state’s finance and stock market,” Xo said.
Prior to arrest, Dang Nhu Quynh had recently posted several articles about the cases of finance mogul Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC Group who had been arrested for stock market manipulation, and Do Anh Dung, the chairman of property developer Tan Hoang Minh Group who was arrested for bond-issuance fraud. In the posts, Quynh predicted that the government would continue prosecuting persons and company leaders that are guilty of similar crimes.
October 2022:
On October 27, a Hanoi court sentenced Dang Nhu Quynh, a 42-year-old Facebooker with over 300,000 followers, to two years in prison for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Prosecutors said that on April 2 Quynh posted information about Do Anh Dung, chairman of the joint stock company Tan Hoang Minh, claiming that Dung was being criminally investigated. However, it was not until April 5 that Dung’s investigation was revealed by police. The state further alleged that Quynh later posted unsubstantiated news about an investigation against Nguyen Van Tuan, chairman of joint stock companies Gelex and Viglacera, causing the share prices for these companies to drop precipitously, and leading to a loss in capitalization of 11,000 billion dong (US $500 million). Quynh was ultimately not charged for his posts about Do Anh Dung since the latter was under investigation anyway. However, according to prosecutors, Quynh allegedly admitted in court that his posts on Nguyen Van Tuan were just speculation on his part and done only to gain likes.
ResourcesAn example of Dang Nhu Quynh's Facebook posts, Dang Nhu Quynh's Facebook, April 5, 2022
Facebooker bị bắt vì đưa tin 'chưa kiểm chứng' về chứng khoán, VNExpress, April 14, 2022
Blogger arrested for posting 'unverified' finance, stock market information, VNExpress, April 14, 2022
Đặng Như Quỳnh bị bắt vì ‘lợi dụng tự do, dân chủ’, tác động tới tài chính, chứng khoán, VOA Vietnamese, April 14, 2022
Bắt giữ Facebooker chuyên đưa tin về các đại gia tài chính, chứng khoán, bất động sản, RFA Vietnamese, April 14, 2022
Vietnam arrests Facebook user for discussing high-profile financial crimes, RFA, April 14, 2022
Cơ quan An ninh điều tra Bộ Công an khởi tố bị can đối với Đặng Như Quỳnh, Ministry of Public Security, April 15, 2022.
Khởi tố, bắt tạm giam Facebooker Đặng Như Quỳnh, Tuoi Tre Online, April 15, 2022
Facebooker Đặng Như Quỳnh lĩnh án 2 năm tù giam, Lao Dong, October 27, 2022
Facebooker Đặng Như Quỳnh bật khóc, xin được giảm án, Nguoi Lao Dong, Feb. 14, 2023
Profile last updated: 2024-06-13 20:34:07