90 Dictating the Internet: These crimes are enshrined under Vietnam’s Penal Code of 1999, and the amended Penal Code of 2015. Articles 79, 87, 88 and 89 of the 1999 Penal Code respectively criminalized the “carrying out (of) activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” with up to 20 years’ imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment; the “undermining of Vietnam’s national unity policy” with up to 15 years’ imprisonment; “conducting of propaganda” with up to 12 years’ imprisonment; and “disruption of security” with up to 15 years’ imprisonment.323 Articles 245 and 258 respectively criminalized the “fomenting of public disorder” and “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” with up to seven years’ imprisonment.324 In 2018, the Penal Code of 2015 came into effect, introducing article 109, which reduced penalties for “carrying out (of) activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” to 12 years’ imprisonment; but retained under articles 116, 118 and 331, the 1999 Penal Code’s hefty penalties for “sabotaging of national solidarity”, “disruption of security” and “abusing of democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State”.325 Significantly, the 2015 Penal Code introduced article 117 criminalizing the “making, storing, distributing or disseminating of materials” that “oppose the State” with up to 20 years’ imprisonment – which has been used to target the spread of information critical of the State online, particularly on Facebook.326 323 English translation of Vietnam Penal Code of 1999 (No. 15/1999/QH10), Available at: https:// www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/vn/vn017en.pdf 324 Ibid. 325 English translation of Vietnam Penal Code of 2015 (No. 100/2015/QH13), Available at: https:// www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/vn/vn086en.pdf; See also UN Recommendations on the 2015 Penal Code and Criminal Procedural Code of Viet Nam, 17 May 2017, Available at: file:///C:/Users/ User/Downloads/UN%20Recommendations%20on%20PC%20and%20CPC%20of%20Vietnam%20 -%2017%20May%202017.pdf 326 See for eg. Amnesty, ‘Prisoners of Conscience in Vietnam’, cases no. 20, 28, 72, 74, 79.