{"id":36800,"date":"2017-07-31T07:50:56","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T07:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/?p=36800\/"},"modified":"2022-01-15T16:19:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T16:19:36","slug":"four-human-rights-defenders-arrested-subversion-escalating-crackdown-dissent-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/four-human-rights-defenders-arrested-subversion-escalating-crackdown-dissent-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"Four human rights defenders arrested for subversion in an escalating crackdown on dissent in Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 31st July 2017 (VCHR) \u2013 The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) <\/strong>strongly condemns the arrests of four prominent human rights activists on Sunday 30th<\/sup> July, in an escalating crackdown on freedom of expression, assembly and religion in Vietnam. Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i, Pastor Nguy\u1ec5n Trung T\u00f4n, Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c and Nguy\u1ec5n B\u1eafc Truy\u1ec3n <\/strong>are charged with subversion under Article 79 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code which carries sentences of up to life imprisonment or the death penalty.<\/p>\n

On 30.7.2017, the Ministry of Public Security announced online that the four men are amongst a group of six who will be prosecuted in the case of \u201cNguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i and his accomplices for activities aimed at overthrowing the people\u2019s government.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> The other two are human rights lawyer Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i<\/strong> and his assistant L\u00ea Thu H\u00e0<\/strong>. Both have been in custody since December 2015 on charges of \u201cspreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam\u201d <\/em>(Article 88 of the Criminal Code). Following today\u2019s announcement, however, they now face the much more serious charge of subversion under Article 79.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s arrests, coming on the heels of the harsh convictions of Nguy\u1ec5n Ng\u1ecdc Nh\u01b0 Qu\u1ef3nh and Tr\u1ea7n Th\u1ecb Nga, show Vietnam\u2019s grim determination to suppress the human rights movement once and for all\u201d<\/em><\/strong> said VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i. \u201cBy detaining these dedicated human rights defenders, Vietnam is clearly aiming to nip the movement in the bud. Vietnam should immediately release these prisoners and cease this frenzied crack-down on dissent\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pastor
Pastor Nguy\u1ec5n Trung T\u00f4n, Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i, Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c and Nguy\u1ec5n B\u1eafc Truy\u1ec3n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The arrests on Sunday were made in a closely coordinated Police operation involving scores of Security Police. Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i was arrested at his home in Hanoi, Pastor T\u00f4n at his home in Thanh H\u00f3a, and Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c in Ho Chi Minh City as he and his wife were buying medicines near their home. Police threw him into a car, and took the couple to the Security Police Investigations Bureau at 235 Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n C\u1eeb Street, where they read out an arrest warrant against Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c for \u201cactivities aimed at overthrowing the people\u2019s government.\u201d<\/em> His wife, Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb Kim Thanh said the warrant was dated 27th<\/sup> July. She asked the Police to give her a copy, but they refused. Nguy\u1ec5n B\u1eafc Truy\u1ec3n was also arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday. Police searched the men\u2019s homes and confiscated documents and personal items.<\/p>\n

All four are former political prisoners, detained for their human rights activities under vaguely-worded \u201cnational security\u201d clauses in Vietnam\u2019s Criminal Code. Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i<\/strong>, born 1972, was sentenced to four years in prison and four years house arrest in 2009 for \u201cspreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam\u201d<\/em> (Article 88 of the Criminal Code) after he and others protested against Chinese encroachments on the Paracel and Spratly islands. Pastor Nguy\u1ec5n Trung T\u00f4n,<\/strong> born in 1971, was sentenced to two years in prison and two years house arrest in 2011 under the same charge. He is chairman of the unofficial \u201cBrotherhood for Democracy\u201d (H\u1ed9i Anh Em D\u00e2n Ch\u1ee7) <\/em>founded by Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00e0i. In February 2017, Pastor T\u00f4n was abducted and brutally beaten by hired thugs<\/a>, and has suffered repeated harassments. Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c<\/strong>, born in 1960, is a journalist, former correspondent for state-run newspapers such as Tu\u1ed5i Tr\u1ebb, Thanh Ni\u00ean <\/em>and Ph\u00e1p Lu\u1eadt, <\/em>and a labour rights activist. <\/em>Arrested in 2007 for writing articles denouncing official corruption, he was condemned to five years in prison for \u201cabusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State\u201d<\/em> (Article 258 of the Criminal Code). Nguy\u1ec5n B\u1eafc Truy\u1ec3n,<\/strong> born 1968, head of an association of former religious and political prisoners, served three and a half years in prison from 2006 – 2010 under Article 88 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n

In 2009, following a submission filed by the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention<\/a><\/strong> declared the detention of Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i and Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c to be a violation of international law because their actions \u201cmerely represent the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of assembly and opinion and expression\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

This wave of arrests marks a new height in an alarming escalation of repression against human rights defenders, bloggers, civil society activists and followers of independent religions in Vietnam over the past few months. In June and July 2017 alone, detained, deported and exported the following human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists: two prominent women activists, blogger\u00a0 Nguy\u1ec5n Ng\u1ecdc Nh\u01b0 Qu\u1ef3nh<\/a><\/strong> and land\/labour rights defender Tr\u1ea7n Th\u1ecb Nga<\/a><\/strong> were sentenced respectively to 10 and 9 years in prison (on 29th<\/sup> June and 25th<\/sup> July); dissident L\u00ea \u0110\u1ecbnh L\u01b0\u1ee3ng<\/strong> was arrested in Ngh\u1ec7 An on charges of \u201csubversion\u201d (24 July); French-Vietnamese dissident and former political prisoner Ph\u1ea1m Minh Ho\u00e0ng<\/strong> was stripped of his Vietnamese nationality and deported to France (25th<\/sup> June). Whilst the early release of Lutheran Pastor Nguy\u1ec5n C\u00f4ng Ch\u00ednh<\/strong> on July 28th<\/sup> after serving five years of an 11-year sentence was a welcome development, his release was conditioned on his immediate departure for the United States. Pastor Ch\u00ednh must complete his prison sentence if ever he returns to Vietnam.<\/p>\n

This crack-down is reinforced by Vietnam\u2019s use of the law to reduce civil society space and criminalize the exercise of human rights. In July 2017, the Ministry of the Interior made public draft regulations regarding sanctions, including fines of up to 60 million VN\u0110 (US$ 2,640) on anyone who commits \u201cadministrative violations in the realm of belief or religion\u201d.<\/em> These regulations, if adopted as such, will virtually outlaw the activities of \u201cnon-registered\u201d religious groups by exposing their members to penalties and exorbitant fines.<\/p>\n

\u201cVietnam uses repressive legislation to justify its relentless crackdown on dissidents and human rights defenders,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>said VCHR President V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i. \u201cThe Government must use the ongoing revision of the Criminal Code to abrogate Articles 79, 88 and 258, and repeal all other laws and regulations that impede the exercise of freedom of opinion, expression, assembly and religion or belief\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 31st July 2017 (VCHR) \u2013 The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) strongly condemns the arrests of four prominent human rights activists on Sunday 30th July, in an escalating crackdown on freedom of expression, assembly and religion in Vietnam. Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n Tr\u1ed9i, Pastor Nguy\u1ec5n Trung T\u00f4n, Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Minh \u0110\u1ee9c and Nguy\u1ec5n B\u1eafc Truy\u1ec3n are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":0,"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":[137,113,98,64],"tags":[437,436,379,313,434,439,432,435,438,431,293,433],"class_list":["post-36800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-le-dinh-luong","tag-le-thu-ha","tag-me-nam","tag-national-security","tag-nguyen-bac-truyen","tag-nguyen-cong-chinh","tag-nguyen-trung-ton","tag-nguyen-van-tuc","tag-pham-minh-hoang","tag-pham-van-troi","tag-tran-thi-nga","tag-truong-minh-duc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36800","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\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}