{"id":2625,"date":"2016-03-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/en\/buddhist-youth-leader-l-cng-cu-faces-expulsion-for-supporting-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam\/"},"modified":"2016-09-09T13:39:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T13:39:23","slug":"buddhist-youth-leader-l-cng-cu-faces-expulsion-for-supporting-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/buddhist-youth-leader-l-cng-cu-faces-expulsion-for-supporting-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddhist Youth leader L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u faces expulsion for supporting Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 12 March 2016 (VCHR) \u2013 Security Police in the central city of Hu\u1ebf are preparing to forcibly expel Buddhist Youth leader L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u from his home because of his activities in support of the non-recognized Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV).<\/p>\n

L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u informed the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) today that Security Police are forcing him to move out of the flat in 154 Phan B\u1ed9i Ch\u00e2u Street, Hu\u1ebf, where he has lived for the past 13 years. Over the past month, he has been subjected to threats, harassments and interrogations, Police have intimidated his landlord, and groups of hired thugs and plain-clothed security agents are threatening to throw his possessions into the street if he does not move out immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\nIn a recent \u201cworking session\u201d (interrogation) at the Tr\u01b0\u1eddng An District Police station on 9 March, Security Police told L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u they were expelling him (a) because of his support of the UBCV, which is considered an \u201cillegal\u201d organization, and (b) because, for the past two years, the Police had lost their status of \u201cflag holder\u201d in the governments \u201cemulation campaign\u201d<\/em> because of his presence in their district. Losing this status not only means a loss of prestige, but also a cut in perks and privileges for the local Security Police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Communist Party says that Security Police are \u201cthe servants of the people\u201d. Yet they regularly abuse their powers to intimidate and repress peaceful citizens\u201d<\/em>, said VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i. \u201cVietnam should cease harassment of L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u and all others who are simply urging the authorities to respect constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms and rights\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u reports that harassments began at the beginning of February, during the Lunar New Year. Police summoned his landlord and said he must terminate L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7us lease. The landlord was reluctant to do this, since C\u1ea7u regularly paid his rent and never caused any trouble. Police then increased pressure, subjecting the landlord to repeated \u201cworking sessions\u201d, and finally threatening to cut off the electricity and water in his building if he did not expel L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u.<\/p>\n

Understanding his landlords predicament, L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u looked for alternative accommodation. He found new lodgings, signed a contract and made a down payment. However, when the owner went to the Police to obtain the mandatory Temporary Residence Permit in the name of the new tenant, L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u, the Police refused. The same scenario occurred in five other places where flats were up to let. Wherever he went, his application was accepted, and then turned down. It became clear that Police had blacklisted L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u for residence in all the wards and districts in Hu\u1ebf.<\/p>\n

In protest, L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u sent a letter on 7 March to the Hu\u1ebf provincial authorities and Security Police, with copy to VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i, denouncing the Security Polices unlawful harassment as violations of Article 22 of the 2013 revised Constitution which guarantees that \u201cthe citizen has the right to have legal domicile: Everyone is entitled to the inviolability of his domicile\u201d<\/em> and Article 23 which enshrines the right to freedom of movement and residence. He demands the right to stay in his present lodgings. In his letter, L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u also said he had been subjected to \u201chundreds of interrogations\u201d<\/em> over the past years because of his support for the independent UBCV. He stressed that this repression would never induce him to renounce his engagement for the UBCV and its leader, Most Venerable Thich Quang Do.<\/p>\n

The arbitrary treatment of L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u is typical of the systematic harassments, intimidation, surveillance, physical assaults and detention faced by all followers of \u201cnon-recognized\u201d religious movements, human rights defenders, bloggers and activists in Vietnam. In recent years, to avoid international condemnation, Vietnam has avoided high-profile political trials, but stepped up beatings and harassments against dissidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cVietnam holds a seat at the UN Human Rights Council and seeks to strengthen ties with the international community, yet at home it perpetuates a climate of fear aimed at stifling independent civil society voices\u201d<\/em>, said V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i.<\/p>\n

The VCHR has forwarded the case of L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u to the office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 12 March 2016 (VCHR) \u2013 Security Police in the central city of Hu\u1ebf are preparing to forcibly expel Buddhist Youth leader L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u from his home because of his activities in support of the non-recognized Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). L\u00ea C\u00f4ng C\u1ea7u informed the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) today …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":29366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-vchr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}