HaTinh (VNA) – Nguyen Van Hoa, a 22-year-old resident of Ky Anh district,has been arrested by Ha Tinh police for abusing his civil rights and infringingupon the State’s interests.

Areport in the local newspaper said on April 6 that the arrest followed adecision by the provincial police to start legal proceedings against theaccused.

Hoawill be detained for three months as the prosecution prepares his case.

Policesaid that over the last two years, Hoa was involved in various activitiesdesigned to foment protests in the province.

Hewill be accused of “abusing his civil rights, freedom and democracy to infringeupon the interests of the State, legitimate rights and interests oforganisations and citizens" under Article 258 of the Penal Code.

Thepolice also alleged that the young man had joined dozens of other residents ina number of protests at the main gate of the Formosa company, using a Flycamdevice to shoot videos that were directly posted on social networks.

Toincite protests, he directly persuaded many locals to follow some extremists inHa Tinh province in organising activities that disturbed social order andundermined social security, the police alleged.

SomeFormosa property in the province was also destroyed during the protests.

Hoa’sarrest followed a special investigation by the provincial police, focusing on“reactionary activities by extremists” who took advantage of the recentenvironmental disaster caused by the Formosa company to disturb social order.

Atthe investigation agency, Hoa confessed to all his wrongdoings, including thespreading of wrong, distorted information that smeared the Party and theGovernment, police said.

Theinvestigation found that in 2014, Hoa had set up several social networkaccounts to make friends and connect with many people. In April the same year,he collected reports from different sources that contained reactionaryinformation against the State of Vietnam and spread them throughout the socialmedia via network accounts.

Thepolice said that he also set up many gmail accounts to share photos, videoclips, reports and articles on “hot” issues in Ha Tinh and others neighbouringprovinces of Nghe An and Quang Binh.

Thereactionary information in many of his posts attracted the attention of someforeign organisations, some of whom were ready to pay him for what he wasdoing.

Hoawas paid about 1,500 USD for having shared 16 reports in a month about severalissues in the country. Most of the reports contained reactionary information,the police alleged.-VNA