HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Vietnam: Release Convicted Activists

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Vietnam: Release Convicted Activists

The conviction and harsh prison sentences of 14 activists by the People’s Court of Nghe An province on January ­­­9 marks a sharp escalation of government attacks on critics, Human Rights Watch said today. The 14 should be released immediately, as should the prominent blogger, Le Quoc Quan, arrested in late December.

The 14 were charged after attending a training course in Bangkok held by the banned Viet Tan organization. Eleven were charged with being members of Viet Tan, while three were charged with actively participating in the organization. 

Viet Tan is an organization that in the 1980s led a resistance movement against the Vietnamese communist government but for the past few decades has worked for peaceful political reform, democracy, and human rights in Vietnam. 

As in numerous previous cases, the government relied on loosely-worded national security laws – in this instance article 79 of the penal code, which vaguely prohibits activities aimed at “overthrowing the government” – to prosecute people engaged in the exercise of their fundamental human rights.

Showing the sensitivity of the case, large numbers of police were deployed at the court. Police detained a number of bloggers who attempted to attend the trial.

“The conviction of yet more peaceful activists is another example of a government that is increasingly afraid of the opinions of its own people,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of imprisoning critics, the Vietnamese government should be honoring them for their efforts to address the myriad problems facing the country that the government itself has also identified.”

The 14 convicted are Dang Ngoc Minh, Dang Xuan Dieu, Ho Duc Hoa, Ho Van Oanh, Le Van Son, Nguyen Dang Minh Man, Nguyen Dang Vinh Phuc, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Nguyen Van Duyet, Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Xuan Oanh, Nong Hung Anh, Thai Van Dung, and Tran Minh Nhat (for biographical information on each, see the appendix). They were arrested between August and December 2011 and held for more than a year before being put on trial.

A number of the defendants, including Nguyen Xuan Anh, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Ho Duc Hoa, and Dang Xuan Dieu, had participated in volunteer activities in their local neighborhoods in Vinh, including encouraging women not to have abortions, supporting the poor and people with disabilities, founding the Vinh Human Development Foundation, and working to protect the environment. Others, such as Nong Hung Anh, Thai Van Dung, Tran Minh Nhat, Ho Van Oanh, Nguyen Van Oai, and Nguyen Van Duyet, have participated in peaceful protests related to China or were involved in attempting to manifest support of legal activist Cu Huy Ha Vu during the 2011 trial that sentenced him to prison for the peaceful exercise of his fundamental rights. Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Van Duyet, and Ho Van Oanh participated in activities that protect workers’ rights in Binh Duong province, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Three lesser known people in the group are Dang Ngoc Minh, her daughter Nguyen Dang Minh Man, and her son Nguyen Dang Vinh Phuc, from the city of Tra Vinh in Tra Vinh province. According to the indictment, in April 2010, Dang Ngoc Minh and Nguyen Dang Minh Man “under the direction of Viet Tan, bought black paint and painted the letters ‘HS.TS.VN’ on the outside of a sewer and on the wall” of an old school in Trung Ngai commune, Vung Liem district, Vinh Long province “in order to incite people to protest” so that they could take pictures and send them to the Viet Tan Party. “HS.TS.VN” stands for the Spratly and Paracel islands, one of the major sources of territorial disputes between Vietnam and China, an issue which the Vietnamese authorities deem highly sensitive.

Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Dang Xuan Dieu, Nong Hung Anh, Thai Van Dung, and Tran Minh Nhat have blogged in favor of freedom of expression and in support of the establishment of a multi-party and pluralist political system. Before the trial, Dang Xuan Dieu said, 

“I have done nothing contrary to my conscience, so although the authorities may punish me physically and impose a severe sentence upon me, the government is only thereby trampling on the eternal good morals of the Vietnamese nation, which as its affair is a matter for which it must bear responsibility.”

Human Rights Watch said that the case of Le Van Son (also known as Paulus Le Son), a 27-year-old blogger whose postings reported on land disputes, assaults by local authorities on fellow activists, police abuse, and discrimination against HIV patients, shows the misuse of the courts for political purposes. Before he was arrested, Le Van Son tried to observe the trials of other dissidents, such as the prominent legal activist Cu Huy Ha Vu. 

As Le Van Son wrote in one posting, “After all, those who are charged with ‘anti-government crimes’ are the ones who use precious construction material to … point out the cracks, the holes and the deep abyss in a political regime which faces the danger of collapse.”

Many of the 14 are affiliated with the Redemptorist Thai Ha church in Hanoi and Ky Dong church in Ho Chi Minh City, known for strongly backing bloggers and other peaceful religious and rights activists. Over the last two years, both churches have regularly held prayer vigils expressing support for those they consider prisoners of conscience and detainees otherwise held for their political or religious belief. Dang Xuan Dieu, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Nguyen Van Duyet, Ho Van Oanh, Tran Minh Nhat, Thai Van Dung, Nong Hung Anh, and Le Van Son either took media courses organized by the Redemptorist churches or contributed writing to its website. 

The Redemptorists, formally known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, are a Catholic missionary congregation founded in Italy in 1732 that currently operate in more than 77 countries worldwide.

Redemptorist activists have been a growing voice among Vietnamese movements for democracy and human rights in recent years, especially in areas where they have a considerable presence, such as Nghe An, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City. Some Redemptorist churches and parishes have become centers of dissent. Religiously affiliated activists have been targeted for arrest and other forms of harassment and intimidation, including restrictions on movement, violent assaults on individuals, and the deployment of armed security forces around churches.

“It is not clear if those convicted were targeted for alleged affiliations with Viet Tan, being members of the Redemptorist church, or simply for their activism,” said Adams. 

“Whatever the reason, the government appears despotic to its own people and the world when it says that someone who tries to uphold the rights of others is a threat to the state.”

The Case of Le Quoc Quan

Human Rights Watch also called for politically motivated charges to be dropped against prominent dissident Le Quoc Quan, who was arrested on December 27, 2012, nine days after he wrote an article entitled, “Constitution or a contract for electricity and water service?” The piece criticized the National Assembly for keeping article 4 in the new draft constitution and other issues related to the constitution. 

Article 4 states that the Communist Party has the leading role in Vietnam. Le Quoc Quan’s piece opened by stating, “I know my following lines will probably be thrown into a garbage can by the Communist Party. Worse, I may be put in prison. Nevertheless, my belief in human beings, the importance of the issue and the consciousness of a citizen urged me to write.” The piece was published on December 18 by the BBC.

Le Quoc Quan’s arrest is only the latest in a long series of efforts by the authorities to put an end to his advocacy for human rights and the rule of law, including efforts to turn the official promise of religious freedom into reality. He has been a prolific blogger on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from law to Vietnam’s relations with China. 

He was imprisoned for a period in 2007, repeatedly threatened with re-arrest after release, subject to police interrogation and detention, and beaten up by mysterious assailants. Politically motivated charges of tax evasion have been used to imprison other political dissidents, including blogger Nguyen Van Hai (a.k.a Dieu Cay). Two of Le Quoc Quan’s relatives, his brother Le Dinh Quan and his cousin Nguyen Thi Oanh, have been detained as a result of the same allegation. His arrest followed shortly after he circulated a commentary condemning constitutional guarantees of Communist Party leadership of the Vietnamese political system.

“The government has targeted Le Quoc Quan because of the power of his ideas and the fact that many people in Vietnam agree with him,” said Adams. “It is time for Vietnam’s donors to tell the government that it can no longer conduct business as usual while it keeps locking up people whose only crime is wanting the right to speak their minds and set the country on the path of democracy.”

Human Rights Watch