HCMC woman forced to apologize for complaining about landfill

The Nha Be District People’s Court on Wednesday said it accepted the request made by the Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS) company to make 47-year-old Nguyen Hong Thu stop her actions that violate the firm’s reputation, remove posts with such content, and publicly deliver an apology on Facebook.

Prosecutors said Thu’s posts have negatively impacted Duong David Trung, who legally represents VWS.

“Whether the stench came from the Da Phuoc landfill or not falls under the responsibility of state agencies. Thu could have reported the matter to authorities, but she used social media to post inappropriate posts that violate the honor and reputation of the defendant,” the sentence said.

VWS, based in Binh Chanh District, was established in 2005 and is responsible for the construction, design and operation of the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex.

The firm accused Thu of using her Facebook account to create a group called “The truth about the stench in Phu My Hung” back in 2016, where she posted contents saying the cause of the stench was due to VWS.

However, the company said what Thu wrote was fabricated and untrue, and contained language that insulted the honor and reputation of Duong and the firm.

Thu earlier said she had been living in the southern HCMC area for many years, and locals have been suffering from the stench of the Da Phuoc landfill for many years as well. What she wrote on Facebook was true, she said.

“The contents of the posts were about the stench and were cited from newspaper articles and official documents. VWS said I fabricated them, but could not prove where exactly the fabrication is,” she added.