Why was Ngoc Trinh arrested?

On October 9, Tran Thi Ngoc Trinh (model Ngoc Trinh, 34 years old) was fined by the Traffic Police Team of Thu Duc City Police for two administrative violations: lying on the motorbike seat, standing on one side of the vehicle, letting go of both hands... while driving; not having a driver's license for a vehicle over 175cc, according to Decree 100/2019 and Article 59 of the Road Traffic Law.

However, the investigation agency determined that, in addition to traffic violations, during the motorcycle "performances" Ngoc Trinh and driving instructor Tran Xuan Dong (36 years old) both filmed and then posted 5 videos on their Tiktok accounts.Ngoc Trinh(6.8 million followers), FacebookTran Thi Ngoc Trinh(has more than 3 million followers), FanpageNGOC TRINH(with 5.9 million followers) and received a total of more than 163 million interactions. These videos went viral on the internet with more than 240 posts on Facebook, more than 650 articles on the website; more than 3,000 related videos on YouTube.

According to the investigation agency, the posting and dissemination of the above content has negatively affected security, order and social safety, negatively affecting the awareness, lifestyle and behavioral culture of young people... By the afternoon of October 19, Ho Chi Minh City Police temporarily detained Ngoc Trinh and Xuan Dong for 3 months for the act ofDisturbing public order.

According to lawyer Nguyen Van Hau (Head of the Vietnam Bar Federation's media agency), it is necessary to clearly separate that Ngoc Trinh will not be criminally prosecuted for the act of "performing" on a motorcycle.,who was arrested and detained for the crimeDisturbing public orderAccording to Article 318 of the Penal Code for the act of posting videos of illegal driving of large-displacement motorbikes on social networking platforms.

An act may constitute this crime when it falls into one of the following cases: causing negative impacts on social security, order, and safety; having been administratively sanctioned for this act; having been convicted of this crime, not having had the criminal record cleared, and still committing the crime.

"However, not only acts performed in public or in front of people are considered to have a negative impact on security, order and social safety," Mr. Hau said, adding that in the current technological age, there are many ways to impact social life and people's minds. One of them is the strong spread of articles, images and videos posted on social networking platforms.

According to Mr. Hau, Ngoc Trinh is a famous person, so her personal news pages often have a large number of followers, any words or actions posted on these news pages will receive a response from the viewer community. Specifically, the videos posted on Ngoc Trinh's news pages have received millions of views.

"Thus, it can be seen that these videos have had a bad influence, negatively impacted the psychology of viewers and potentially encouraged viewers to follow suit. From there, they threaten security, order, and social safety. The huge number of viewers of these videos is the basis for determining the danger of the behavior," said lawyer Hau.

Sharing the same opinion, Dr. - lawyer Nguyen Huu The Trach said that if Ngoc Trinh only stopped at "performing" motorbikes, not posting the offending videos on social networks with millions of followers, she would only be fined administratively. But in the videos, when Ngoc Trinh rode a motorbike, there was a director, a cameraman who then posted it on social networks, which is a sign of "organized" behavior.

"Posting videos of performances on social networks in defiance of the law has negatively affected public order and may cause a learning effect among young people, especially those who are not qualified to drive vehicles," said Mr. Trach.

However, according to Mr. Trach, the investigation agency's temporary detention of Ngoc Trinh is somewhat "heavy-handed", because the case is still under investigation, the consequences of this act have not been clearly proven, and the level is not too dangerous compared to other types of crimes. The investigation agency only needs to prosecute Ngoc Trinh, release her on bail, and prohibit her from leaving the country, because the defendant has all the elements stipulated in Article 121 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code such as: having a guarantor, having a clear place of residence, committing a crime for the first time, good personal background...