Defend the Defenders | June 11, 2017
On June 8, a group of ten plainclothes agents came to the private residence of former political prisoner Le Quoc Quan in Hanoi, blocking the family from going out and threatening to kill him and his wife and three daughters if he continues to work for human rights and multi-party democracy.
The move came one week after Quan met with visiting U.S. Senator John McCain and other members of a delegation of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services where he reported the intensified political crackdown in Vietnam to the guests.
On the same day, police in Tan Lap ward, Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, kidnapped environmentalist Nguyen Dang Vu when he came from Ho Chi Minh City to visit some friends there, and tortured him for 31 hours before forcing him to go back to HCM City.
Meanwhile, authorities in Nghe An continue their persecution against local Catholic community, sending thugs to beat followers of the Van Thai church and vandalize the church in a bid to revenge for their voice against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which caused environmental catastrophe last year by discharging huge amount of toxic industrial waste into the central coastal waters.
Vietnam’s authorities handed over the decision of President Tran Dai Quang to revoke the citizenship of political dissident Pham Minh Hoang to the victim. The move aims to expel him to France as he also has French citizenship.
Vietnam’s police falsely told imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh that his wife has been unfaithful with another man. The lie is just one of the many ways her husband has been mistreated in prison over the last six years, said his wife Tran Thi Hong, who is a member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights.
The Vietnam Bar Federation has urged the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) to remove a controversial article in the amended Penal Code 2015 which regulates relationship between defending lawyers and their clients. In its statement sent to the NA’s chairperson, Standing Committee and Committee for Legal Affairs, Do Ngoc Thinh, president of the Vietnam Bar Federation said Article 19 of the amended Penal Code is against the Criminal Procedure Code and is not in line with international standard. The article states that lawyers will be punished if he/she does not denounce his/her clients.
And other news
===== June 5 =====
Khanh Hoa Police Concludes Investigation against Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Still Not Allow Family to Meet Her in Prison
Defend the Defenders: Police in the central province of Khanh Hoa have concluded the investigation against prominent blogger environmentalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (also known as Mother Mushroom) but still keep her in incommunicado, the family said.
Police told the lawyers of human rights defender Quynh that the investigation results were sent to the province’s People’s Court and the lawyers started to study the case to prepare for her defense, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, mother of blogger Quynh, told the Defend the Defenders.
The trial of Quynh may be held in the next several months, according to the lawyers hired by the family.
However, the Khanh Hoa police still do not allow the family to visit the activist. They remain silent when Ms. Lan filed visit request. They also reject to provide any information on her health conditions.
Quynh , who was arrested and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, has been held incommunicado since her arrest on October 10, 2016.
Outside, her grandmother, mother and two children have been under constant surveillance of the local police. In many occasion, local authorities have sent numerous police officers to the family’s private residence to bar them from going out to prevent them from meeting with foreign diplomats and visiting officials.
——————–
Vietnamese Gov’t Falsely Tells Imprisoned Pastor that His Wife Cheats on Him
Vietnam’s police falsely told imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh that his wife has been unfaithful with another man, his wife Tran Thi Hong said in an interview with the Asia-based Catholic news outlet ucanews.com.
Hong, who is member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, said that in the latest visit to her husband at Xuan Loc Prison in the southern province of Dong Nai, the pastor told her that security officials from Hanoi informed her husband that she has been engaging in an extramarital affair.
Hong contended that what the security officials told her husband was nothing but lies. They also showed faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man.”
“The communist government maliciously lied to separate our family and force my husband to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom,” Hong asserted.
“If you believe their vicious slander, you will fall into their trap,” she recalled telling her husband. “Be brave. People are working hard for you to be freed soon.”
Hong added that the lie is just one of the many ways her husband has been mistreated in prison over the last six years.
Pastor Chinh, who is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist, is a prisoner of conscience who is currently serving an 11-year sentence after he was arrested in 2011 and accused of colluding with a resistance group known as FULRO. He was charged with violating Article 87 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Chinh is a subject of inhumane treatment of prison’s authorities. His food is substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink is contaminated with harmful substances.
The police’s harassment against Chinh has caused human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
For full report of UCA News: Vietnamese Gov’t Falsely Told Imprisoned Pastor That His Wife Cheated on Him
——————–
Hanoi Police Stop Football Match of No-U Activists
Defend the Defenders: On Sunday (June 4), police in Hanoi stopped a football match of No-U activists without providing reasonable excuse.
When members of the Hanoi-based No-U football team, an amateur team of anti-China activists in the northern region, were playing their regular match at a private football field in Dinh Cong ward, a group of ten police officers from the ward police came to stop the match.
When being asked for reasons, the police did not explain, just saying they received an order from the city’s Police Department.
No-U was established in 2011 and its members are anti-China activists. It has called on local people to participate in peaceful demonstrations to protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea (South China Sea).
The team has been under constant suppression of authorities in Hanoi who have asked field owners not to allow the team to play in their fields, forcing the team to move from one field to another.
At the 4th anniversary of No-U on November 30, 2015, thugs backed by Hanoi police attacked its members and fans when they held a small party in a local restaurant. One year later, police blocked many activists from attending the 5th anniversary of the team and disturbed the party of these who successfully came to the event.
Plainclothes agents even brutally assaulted some members of the team after matches, causing serious injuries for them.
===== June 6 =====
Vietnamese Lawyer Vows to Give up Profession if Parliament Approves Controversial Article in Penal Code
Defend the Defenders: Hanoi-based lawyer Dinh Viet Thanh has declared that he would give up his profession if Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly will keep a controversial article regarding relations between lawyers and their clients in the 2015 Penal Code.
The Vietnamese rubber-stamp parliament, in its going one-month session, is holding discussions on Article 19 of the 2015 Penal Code, which requires a lawyer to denounce his/her client if the latter commits any of the 86 listed serious criminal offenses.
Mr. Thanh and dozens of his colleagues on June 4 went to meet with the standing members of the Vietnam Bar Federation to talk about the article of the bill which was approved by the communist-controlled parliament in 2015 but was suspended from implementation and being amended by the lawmaking body.
The Vietnam Bar Federation should persuade the parliament to remove the article from the bill, the lawyers said.
Mr. Thanh said he is working with many foreigners and his clients will not trust in Vietnamese lawyers if the article exists. His stance was applauded by many colleagues.
In late May, the parliament had a hot discussion about the article. Many lawyers agreed that such regulation will affect the lawyer code stipulated in the 2013 Constitution and other legal documents, as well as run counter to the lawyer’s conscience and professional ethics.
However, legislator Nguyen Thi Thuy from the northern province of Bac Kan, disagreed with this point, arguing that it is inappropriate for a lawyer not to denounce his/her client who has committed a very serious crime. She also objected to exempting a lawyer from any liability in case of failing to report a crime pertaining to national security, terrorism, serial murder, child sexual abuse, and infant swap.
Legislator Truong Trong Nghia from Ho Chi Minh City, a lawyer by profession, responded to Ms. Thuy by appealing to the 2013 Constitution and lawyers’ rights as human rights. He noted that using the word “denounce” in the 2015 Penal Code is incorrect for it takes away the presumption of innocence that every defendant should have.
Mr. Nghia added that allowing a lawyer to denounce his/her client could jeopardize Vietnam’s business-investment environment as in other countries there exists a lawyer-client privilege.
Over 90% of members of Vietnam’s parliament are members of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the country for decades.
===== June 7 =====
Vietnam: French-Vietnamese Blogger Threatened with Expulsion
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is extremely concerned about the Vietnamese government’s declared intention to expel Pham Minh Hoang, an outspoken blogger who has French as well as Vietnamese nationality. RSF condemns this persecution of Hoang and urges the French authorities to give him their support.
The French consulate in Ho Chi Minh City notified Huang on 1 June that he will probably be expelled in the next few days. This sudden move is the result of President Tran Dai Quang’s decision to strip Hoang of his Vietnamese nationality.
A university lecturer who acquired French citizenship during many years in France, where he joined the Vietnamese pro-democracy party, Viet Tan, Hoang has been the target of both psychological and judicial harassment since his return to Vietnam.
His blog posts about education, the environment and the threats to Vietnamese sovereignty from China led to his being sentenced to 17 months in prison and three years of house arrest in 2011 – a sentence that was reduced thanks to support from human rights defenders and the French government. His family has also been the target of threats.
Hoang, who is deeply attached to Vietnam, has posted a “Letter from the bottom of my heart” on Facebook professing his desire to remain with his family in Vietnam and continue to work peacefully to address his country’s problems. He hopes to be backed by the international community, including the French government.
RSF is appalled by this latest Vietnamese Communist Party attempt to intimidate and silence dissidents. Hoang’s announced expulsion is unjustified and out of all proportion. The authorities must reverse this decision, which is typical of the blatant way they harass all those who raise controversial issues.
Vietnam continues to be a one-party state that clamps down on freedom of expression. Recent victims include Nguyen Van Dai, a human rights lawyer and blogger who has been held arbitrarily for more than a year on a charge of anti-state propaganda. Neither he nor his family have been told anything about the investigation to which he is being subjected or any eventual trial.
The party also sometimes resorts to waves of “preventive” arrests. Three bloggers and citizen-journalists were arrested on the eve of the Vietnamese New Year in January.
Vietnam has one of the worst scores of any country in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index, in which it is ranked 175th out of 180.
Additional information: Vietnam Strips French-Vietnamese Professor of Citizenship: French Officials
===== June 8 =====
Hanoi Thugs Threatens Family of Prominent Dissident Le Quoc Quan
Defend the Defenders: In the morning of June 8, a group of ten thugs came to the private residence of former political prisoner Le Quoc Quan in Hanoi, threatening him and his family if he continues his activities which aim for promoting human rights and multi-party democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.
Lawyer Quan, who was imprisoned for 30 months for fabricated allegation of tax evasion, said the thugs were led by a man namely Thanh, the same group beat him in the evening of July 3, 2016 in order to prevent him from taking part in a party organized by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam to mark the 240th Independent Day of the U.S.
Quan said Thanh held his neck and told him that he must suspend his social activities otherwise they will hurt him and his family.
“You should focus on your family and try to protect your growing daughters otherwise we will cause harm for them,” Thanh said.
The thugs also threatened to beat Quan’s friend who came to support him.
The incident happened in the entry of the building in where Quan lives under the witness of Quan’s daughters and many local residents.
Quan said the move came ten days after he met with U.S. Senator John McCain when the American veteran of the Vietnam War visited the Southeast Asian nation and met with some local activists.
On May 30, security forces in Hanoi contacted Quan, saying he should not go to the meeting with Senator McCain and other members of the U.S. Congress. However, Quan went to the meeting where he reported human rights violations in Vietnam and raised the case of human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, who is imprisoned and charged with anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Quan is still under close surveillance of security forces in Hanoi after being released in late June 2015. In many occasions, he has been placed de facto under house arrest as plainclothes agents came to his private residence to prevent him from going out. They themselves identified as thugs when Quan protested, saying their moves violated his rights of free movement.
Several hours of being harassed, Quan filed a complaint to Hanoi’s authorities to denunciate the thugs’ illegal move and the local authorities have yet to respond.
Along with arrest and imprisonment, Vietnam’s government has applied many other tactics to silence local activists, including sending plainclothes agents to prevent them from taking parts in social activities and meeting with foreign diplomats and visiting officials.
In addition, the communist government has also used thugs to kidnap and torture many political dissidents, human rights advocates and social activists before leaving them in remote areas. Due to their acts, many activists have suffered from serious injuries.
===== June 9 =====
Vietnam Activist Kidnapped, Tortured by Police While Visiting Dak Lak
Defend the Defenders: On June 8, security forces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Lak kidnapped and tortured activist Nguyen Dang Vu from Ho Chi Minh City for two days when he visited the locality, the victim told Defend the Defenders.
Vu, who has participated in many peaceful demonstrations on environmental issues and other issues and posted a number of articles in his Facebook account Nguyễn Peng about human rights and multi-party democracy, was detained by a group of plainclothes agents upon his arrival in the city on the afternoon.
The kidnappers took him to a police station in Tan Lap ward, Buon Ma Thuot city where they tortured him, kicking in his belly and causing great pain for him, Vu said.
Police also confiscated his belongings, including cell phones before taking him in a bus and forcing him to go back to HCM City in the late night of the next day. Vu said he was not supplied with food during 31 hours in police custody.
Along with political involvement, Vu has partaken in many charity events, going to remote areas to support the poor and children.
Last year, he was arrested by HCM City while attending anti-Formosa demonstrations. He was also beaten by thugs two times in 2016.
Along with arrests and imprisonments for trumped-up allegations, Vietnam’s security forces have also applied many other tactics to harass local political dissidents, human rights defenders and social activists such as economic blockage and kidnap and torture in a bid to silence them.
Victims of kidnap and torture include Truong Minh Tam from the Vietnam Pathway, Nguyen Cong Huan from the central province of Nghe An, Nguyen Trung Ton, president of the Brotherhood for Democracy, former prisoners of conscience Chu Manh Son and Nguyen Viet Dung, Nguyen Trung Truc and Mai Van Tam from Brotherhood for Democracy.
——————–
Vietnamese Lawyers Asks Parliament to Remove Controversial Article in Amended Penal Code
Defend the Defenders: The Vietnam Bar Federation has urged the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) to remove a controversial article in the amended Penal Code 2015 which regulates relationship between defending lawyers and their clients.
In its statement sent to the NA’s chairperson, Standing Committee and Committee for Legal Affairs, Do Ngoc Thinh, president of the Vietnam Bar Federation said Article 19 of the amended Penal Code is against the Criminal Procedure Code and is not in line with international standard.
According to the article of the amended Penal Code which is under debate of the parliament in its ongoing May-June session, lawyers will be punished if he/she does not denounce his/her clients.
The regulation requires lawyers to denounce their clients will be conflicted with Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that lawyers cannot unveil information of their clients unless their clients agree with written approval, the federation said.
The federation proposed to remove Article 19 or change it in the way that requiring lawyers’ duty to denounce their clients only in serious cases relating to national security.
Last week, Hanoi-based lawyer Dinh Viet Thanh declared that he would give up his profession if the Vietnamese parliament will keep a controversial article regarding relations between lawyers and their clients in the 2015 Penal Code.
The Vietnamese rubber-stamp parliament, in its going one-month session, is holding discussions on Article 19 of the 2015 Penal Code, which requires a lawyer to denounce his/her client if the latter commits any of the 86 listed serious criminal offenses.
Mr. Thanh and dozens of his colleagues went to meet with the standing members of the Vietnam Bar Federation to talk about the article of the bill which was approved by the communist-controlled parliament in 2015 but was suspended from implementation and being amended by the lawmaking body.
The Vietnam Bar Federation should persuade the parliament to remove the article from the bill, the lawyers said.
Mr. Thanh said he is working with many foreigners and his clients will not trust in Vietnamese lawyers if the article exists. His stance was applauded by many colleagues.
——————–
Overdue Detention Rampant in HCM City: Procuracy
Defend the Defenders: Overdue detention is rampant in Ho Chi Minh City as 452 people are kept in police custody for over 12 months without being tried or freed, said the city’s People’s Procuracy.
As of May 31, there are seven people are still in detention while the investigation period for their cases ran out, the Procuracy said.
The People’s Procuracy in the city said the city still holds 6,143 people in detention.
Doan Ta Cuu Long, head of the city’s People’s Procuracy said in many cases, the police investigation agency, People’s Court and the People’s Procuracy do not agree as the police insist criminal acts while the other two agencies say no or just civil relations.
===== June 10 =====
Vietnam Ministry Proposes $2,200 Fine for Posting “Harmful” Content on Social Networks
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications has proposed fines of up to VND50 million ($2,200) for those using social media to spread “distorted information” or to expose other people’s secrets, state media has reported.
The proposal has been made following the rapid growth of social networks in Vietnam and their “increasing influence,” said Le Quang Tu Do, a senior official of the ministry.
The fines were heavy given the country’s annual average income of around $2,200 last year.
The proposal suggests penalties of between VND30 million and VND50 million for people who share “false or libelous information” that defames individuals or organizations. Users will face the same punishment for creating fake pages or hacking into the accounts of other people or organizations, according to the proposal.
Those who disclose a person or organization’s secrets on social media without the party’s consent will be fined between VND20 billion and VND30 million, the proposal said. The same penalty will be imposed for detailed descriptions of sexual offenses or horrific attacks or accidents, it said.
The ministry is polling public opinions on the proposal and has not revealed any details of how the fines would be issued.
Vietnam has 49 million internet users, or more than half of population, and more than 45 million social media accounts. Facebook is the most popular social network in the country with around 35 million users.
While social networks have become a bigger part of the internet-savvy community, a new study by the Vietnam Program for Internet and Society at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi found they often serve as a platform for public trashing and hate speech.
Nearly 80% of the 1,000 internet users surveyed said they were either victims or had witnessed public condemnation on Facebook or other sites, the research team told a conference in April.
The Vietnamese government has taken various steps to embrace social media. Vietnam’s Health Minister launched her official Facebook page more than two years ago to provide health information and receive questions from the public. That was months before Vietnam’s central government opened its own Facebook page in October 2015.
The government is also working with global giants to enhance internet management.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, pledged to help Vietnam prevent and remove “bad” information on its video site YouTube at a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last month.
Facebook in April also promised to cooperate with the Vietnamese government to block “bad” and “toxic” content.
Vietnam is striving to enhance online censorship amid rising public dissatisfaction due to economic difficulties, systemic corruption and serious environmental pollution. Last month, a legislator suggested adding criminal charges for those humiliating or slandering leaders of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and the state to the 2015 Penal Code. Currently, Vietnam sets out the charge for slandering in Article 122 and that for humiliation in Article 121.
===== June 11 =====
Authorities in Nghe An Continue Harassing Catholic Community, Sending Thugs to Beat Followers and Vandalize Church
Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An continue its persecution against the local Catholic community, sending thugs to beat followers and vandalize the church in the Van Thai sub-parish, Song Ngoc parish in Quynh Luu district, bloggers said.
In a number of video clips posted on Facebook, two unidentified men threw stones and brick to the church in the late night of June 7. Later, one of the men proceeded to urinate on the gate and entryway to the church.
The congregation of Song Ngoc parish and Vinh diocese has strongly criticized the government’s handling of a devastating toxic waste spill off the country’s central coast last year caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
Due to the attack, rocks scattered throughout the church’s courtyard as well as broken panes of glass above the building’s front doors.
Private houses of some parishioners were also attacked by stones and bricks.
In the previous night, night a group of young men wearing T-shirts and carrying banners depicting the red flag drove motorcycles to Van Thai church, where they began “screaming and creating public disorder.” The move aims to provoke parishioners while security forces are waiting to intervene.
Few days earlier, thugs beat followers and destroyed many private houses of Van Thai parishioners.
The attacks were made amid the intensified security in the region. Nghe An’s authorities are deploying a large number of mobile policemen to Song Ngoc commune.
Van Thai sub-parishioners, and other members of the coastal Song Ngoc parish, claim they were directly impacted by the Formosa spill and have complained that the government failed to include them in the compensation package.
For details: Vandals Target Vietnam Church Known For Anti-Formosa Sentiment
Police-Hired ‘Thugs’ Beat Vietnamese Anti-Formosa Catholics
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Vietnam Announces Decision to Revoke Citizenship of Political Dissident Pham Minh Hoang
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities have handed over the decision of revoking the citizenship of former political prisoner Pham Minh Hoang to him, the victim said.
The decision was signed by President Tran Dai Quang on May 17, three weeks before being handed over to Mr. Hoang, who also has French citizenship as he studied his master decree on engineering in the European country.
One week earlier, Mr. Hoang learned the Vietnam’s move from the French General Consul in Ho Chi Minh City.
Hoang said he would stay in Vietnam with his family so he submitted a letter to the French General Consul to reject his French citizenship.
The decision to strip Hoang of his Vietnamese nationality aims to expel the outspoken university lecturer to France. It would divide his family with old mother and disable brother.
Hoang was sent to France to study mathematics in 1973. When he returned, the communist soldiers took over the South Vietnam and unified the country. He hardly found his job until 2000 he started as a mathematics lecturer in the Saigon Polytechnics University.
In 2010, he was arrested for online writings and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Hoang, member of the U.S.-based pro-democracy Viet Tan Party, was sentenced to 17 months in prison and additional three years under house arrest.
After being released, Hoang met difficulties in teaching. Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have tried to cause problems for his French classes.
In 2016, police violently dispersed his class in democracy and human rights, confiscating many laptops of his students. He is under close surveillance of HCM City’s security forces.
Professor Hoang said he would stay in Vietnam, even in prison rather than living in other countries.
In response to Hoang’s case, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement saying it is extremely concerned about the Vietnamese government’s declared intention to expel him. RSF condemns this persecution of Hoang and urges the French authorities to give him their support.
The Paris-based RSF says it is appalled by this latest Vietnamese Communist Party attempt to intimidate and silence dissidents. Hoang’s announced expulsion is unjustified and out of all proportion, it said, adding the authorities must reverse this decision, which is typical of the blatant way they harass all those who raise controversial issues.
Vietnam has one of the worst scores of any country in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index, in which it is ranked 175th out of 180.
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June 11, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly June 5-11, 2017: Plainclothes Agents in Hanoi Threaten Family of Prominent Human Rights Lawyer Le Quoc Quan
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | June 11, 2017
On June 8, a group of ten plainclothes agents came to the private residence of former political prisoner Le Quoc Quan in Hanoi, blocking the family from going out and threatening to kill him and his wife and three daughters if he continues to work for human rights and multi-party democracy.
The move came one week after Quan met with visiting U.S. Senator John McCain and other members of a delegation of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services where he reported the intensified political crackdown in Vietnam to the guests.
On the same day, police in Tan Lap ward, Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, kidnapped environmentalist Nguyen Dang Vu when he came from Ho Chi Minh City to visit some friends there, and tortured him for 31 hours before forcing him to go back to HCM City.
Meanwhile, authorities in Nghe An continue their persecution against local Catholic community, sending thugs to beat followers of the Van Thai church and vandalize the church in a bid to revenge for their voice against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which caused environmental catastrophe last year by discharging huge amount of toxic industrial waste into the central coastal waters.
Vietnam’s authorities handed over the decision of President Tran Dai Quang to revoke the citizenship of political dissident Pham Minh Hoang to the victim. The move aims to expel him to France as he also has French citizenship.
Vietnam’s police falsely told imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh that his wife has been unfaithful with another man. The lie is just one of the many ways her husband has been mistreated in prison over the last six years, said his wife Tran Thi Hong, who is a member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights.
The Vietnam Bar Federation has urged the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) to remove a controversial article in the amended Penal Code 2015 which regulates relationship between defending lawyers and their clients. In its statement sent to the NA’s chairperson, Standing Committee and Committee for Legal Affairs, Do Ngoc Thinh, president of the Vietnam Bar Federation said Article 19 of the amended Penal Code is against the Criminal Procedure Code and is not in line with international standard. The article states that lawyers will be punished if he/she does not denounce his/her clients.
And other news
===== June 5 =====
Khanh Hoa Police Concludes Investigation against Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Still Not Allow Family to Meet Her in Prison
Defend the Defenders: Police in the central province of Khanh Hoa have concluded the investigation against prominent blogger environmentalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (also known as Mother Mushroom) but still keep her in incommunicado, the family said.
Police told the lawyers of human rights defender Quynh that the investigation results were sent to the province’s People’s Court and the lawyers started to study the case to prepare for her defense, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, mother of blogger Quynh, told the Defend the Defenders.
The trial of Quynh may be held in the next several months, according to the lawyers hired by the family.
However, the Khanh Hoa police still do not allow the family to visit the activist. They remain silent when Ms. Lan filed visit request. They also reject to provide any information on her health conditions.
Quynh , who was arrested and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, has been held incommunicado since her arrest on October 10, 2016.
Outside, her grandmother, mother and two children have been under constant surveillance of the local police. In many occasion, local authorities have sent numerous police officers to the family’s private residence to bar them from going out to prevent them from meeting with foreign diplomats and visiting officials.
——————–
Vietnamese Gov’t Falsely Tells Imprisoned Pastor that His Wife Cheats on Him
Vietnam’s police falsely told imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh that his wife has been unfaithful with another man, his wife Tran Thi Hong said in an interview with the Asia-based Catholic news outlet ucanews.com.
Hong, who is member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, said that in the latest visit to her husband at Xuan Loc Prison in the southern province of Dong Nai, the pastor told her that security officials from Hanoi informed her husband that she has been engaging in an extramarital affair.
Hong contended that what the security officials told her husband was nothing but lies. They also showed faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man.”
“The communist government maliciously lied to separate our family and force my husband to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom,” Hong asserted.
“If you believe their vicious slander, you will fall into their trap,” she recalled telling her husband. “Be brave. People are working hard for you to be freed soon.”
Hong added that the lie is just one of the many ways her husband has been mistreated in prison over the last six years.
Pastor Chinh, who is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist, is a prisoner of conscience who is currently serving an 11-year sentence after he was arrested in 2011 and accused of colluding with a resistance group known as FULRO. He was charged with violating Article 87 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Chinh is a subject of inhumane treatment of prison’s authorities. His food is substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink is contaminated with harmful substances.
The police’s harassment against Chinh has caused human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
For full report of UCA News: Vietnamese Gov’t Falsely Told Imprisoned Pastor That His Wife Cheated on Him
——————–
Hanoi Police Stop Football Match of No-U Activists
Defend the Defenders: On Sunday (June 4), police in Hanoi stopped a football match of No-U activists without providing reasonable excuse.
When members of the Hanoi-based No-U football team, an amateur team of anti-China activists in the northern region, were playing their regular match at a private football field in Dinh Cong ward, a group of ten police officers from the ward police came to stop the match.
When being asked for reasons, the police did not explain, just saying they received an order from the city’s Police Department.
No-U was established in 2011 and its members are anti-China activists. It has called on local people to participate in peaceful demonstrations to protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea (South China Sea).
The team has been under constant suppression of authorities in Hanoi who have asked field owners not to allow the team to play in their fields, forcing the team to move from one field to another.
At the 4th anniversary of No-U on November 30, 2015, thugs backed by Hanoi police attacked its members and fans when they held a small party in a local restaurant. One year later, police blocked many activists from attending the 5th anniversary of the team and disturbed the party of these who successfully came to the event.
Plainclothes agents even brutally assaulted some members of the team after matches, causing serious injuries for them.
===== June 6 =====
Vietnamese Lawyer Vows to Give up Profession if Parliament Approves Controversial Article in Penal Code
Defend the Defenders: Hanoi-based lawyer Dinh Viet Thanh has declared that he would give up his profession if Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly will keep a controversial article regarding relations between lawyers and their clients in the 2015 Penal Code.
The Vietnamese rubber-stamp parliament, in its going one-month session, is holding discussions on Article 19 of the 2015 Penal Code, which requires a lawyer to denounce his/her client if the latter commits any of the 86 listed serious criminal offenses.
Mr. Thanh and dozens of his colleagues on June 4 went to meet with the standing members of the Vietnam Bar Federation to talk about the article of the bill which was approved by the communist-controlled parliament in 2015 but was suspended from implementation and being amended by the lawmaking body.
The Vietnam Bar Federation should persuade the parliament to remove the article from the bill, the lawyers said.
Mr. Thanh said he is working with many foreigners and his clients will not trust in Vietnamese lawyers if the article exists. His stance was applauded by many colleagues.
In late May, the parliament had a hot discussion about the article. Many lawyers agreed that such regulation will affect the lawyer code stipulated in the 2013 Constitution and other legal documents, as well as run counter to the lawyer’s conscience and professional ethics.
However, legislator Nguyen Thi Thuy from the northern province of Bac Kan, disagreed with this point, arguing that it is inappropriate for a lawyer not to denounce his/her client who has committed a very serious crime. She also objected to exempting a lawyer from any liability in case of failing to report a crime pertaining to national security, terrorism, serial murder, child sexual abuse, and infant swap.
Legislator Truong Trong Nghia from Ho Chi Minh City, a lawyer by profession, responded to Ms. Thuy by appealing to the 2013 Constitution and lawyers’ rights as human rights. He noted that using the word “denounce” in the 2015 Penal Code is incorrect for it takes away the presumption of innocence that every defendant should have.
Mr. Nghia added that allowing a lawyer to denounce his/her client could jeopardize Vietnam’s business-investment environment as in other countries there exists a lawyer-client privilege.
Over 90% of members of Vietnam’s parliament are members of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the country for decades.
===== June 7 =====
Vietnam: French-Vietnamese Blogger Threatened with Expulsion
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is extremely concerned about the Vietnamese government’s declared intention to expel Pham Minh Hoang, an outspoken blogger who has French as well as Vietnamese nationality. RSF condemns this persecution of Hoang and urges the French authorities to give him their support.
The French consulate in Ho Chi Minh City notified Huang on 1 June that he will probably be expelled in the next few days. This sudden move is the result of President Tran Dai Quang’s decision to strip Hoang of his Vietnamese nationality.
A university lecturer who acquired French citizenship during many years in France, where he joined the Vietnamese pro-democracy party, Viet Tan, Hoang has been the target of both psychological and judicial harassment since his return to Vietnam.
His blog posts about education, the environment and the threats to Vietnamese sovereignty from China led to his being sentenced to 17 months in prison and three years of house arrest in 2011 – a sentence that was reduced thanks to support from human rights defenders and the French government. His family has also been the target of threats.
Hoang, who is deeply attached to Vietnam, has posted a “Letter from the bottom of my heart” on Facebook professing his desire to remain with his family in Vietnam and continue to work peacefully to address his country’s problems. He hopes to be backed by the international community, including the French government.
RSF is appalled by this latest Vietnamese Communist Party attempt to intimidate and silence dissidents. Hoang’s announced expulsion is unjustified and out of all proportion. The authorities must reverse this decision, which is typical of the blatant way they harass all those who raise controversial issues.
Vietnam continues to be a one-party state that clamps down on freedom of expression. Recent victims include Nguyen Van Dai, a human rights lawyer and blogger who has been held arbitrarily for more than a year on a charge of anti-state propaganda. Neither he nor his family have been told anything about the investigation to which he is being subjected or any eventual trial.
The party also sometimes resorts to waves of “preventive” arrests. Three bloggers and citizen-journalists were arrested on the eve of the Vietnamese New Year in January.
Vietnam has one of the worst scores of any country in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index, in which it is ranked 175th out of 180.
Additional information: Vietnam Strips French-Vietnamese Professor of Citizenship: French Officials
===== June 8 =====
Hanoi Thugs Threatens Family of Prominent Dissident Le Quoc Quan
Defend the Defenders: In the morning of June 8, a group of ten thugs came to the private residence of former political prisoner Le Quoc Quan in Hanoi, threatening him and his family if he continues his activities which aim for promoting human rights and multi-party democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.
Lawyer Quan, who was imprisoned for 30 months for fabricated allegation of tax evasion, said the thugs were led by a man namely Thanh, the same group beat him in the evening of July 3, 2016 in order to prevent him from taking part in a party organized by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam to mark the 240th Independent Day of the U.S.
Quan said Thanh held his neck and told him that he must suspend his social activities otherwise they will hurt him and his family.
“You should focus on your family and try to protect your growing daughters otherwise we will cause harm for them,” Thanh said.
The thugs also threatened to beat Quan’s friend who came to support him.
The incident happened in the entry of the building in where Quan lives under the witness of Quan’s daughters and many local residents.
Quan said the move came ten days after he met with U.S. Senator John McCain when the American veteran of the Vietnam War visited the Southeast Asian nation and met with some local activists.
On May 30, security forces in Hanoi contacted Quan, saying he should not go to the meeting with Senator McCain and other members of the U.S. Congress. However, Quan went to the meeting where he reported human rights violations in Vietnam and raised the case of human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, who is imprisoned and charged with anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Quan is still under close surveillance of security forces in Hanoi after being released in late June 2015. In many occasions, he has been placed de facto under house arrest as plainclothes agents came to his private residence to prevent him from going out. They themselves identified as thugs when Quan protested, saying their moves violated his rights of free movement.
Several hours of being harassed, Quan filed a complaint to Hanoi’s authorities to denunciate the thugs’ illegal move and the local authorities have yet to respond.
Along with arrest and imprisonment, Vietnam’s government has applied many other tactics to silence local activists, including sending plainclothes agents to prevent them from taking parts in social activities and meeting with foreign diplomats and visiting officials.
In addition, the communist government has also used thugs to kidnap and torture many political dissidents, human rights advocates and social activists before leaving them in remote areas. Due to their acts, many activists have suffered from serious injuries.
===== June 9 =====
Vietnam Activist Kidnapped, Tortured by Police While Visiting Dak Lak
Defend the Defenders: On June 8, security forces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Lak kidnapped and tortured activist Nguyen Dang Vu from Ho Chi Minh City for two days when he visited the locality, the victim told Defend the Defenders.
Vu, who has participated in many peaceful demonstrations on environmental issues and other issues and posted a number of articles in his Facebook account Nguyễn Peng about human rights and multi-party democracy, was detained by a group of plainclothes agents upon his arrival in the city on the afternoon.
The kidnappers took him to a police station in Tan Lap ward, Buon Ma Thuot city where they tortured him, kicking in his belly and causing great pain for him, Vu said.
Police also confiscated his belongings, including cell phones before taking him in a bus and forcing him to go back to HCM City in the late night of the next day. Vu said he was not supplied with food during 31 hours in police custody.
Along with political involvement, Vu has partaken in many charity events, going to remote areas to support the poor and children.
Last year, he was arrested by HCM City while attending anti-Formosa demonstrations. He was also beaten by thugs two times in 2016.
Along with arrests and imprisonments for trumped-up allegations, Vietnam’s security forces have also applied many other tactics to harass local political dissidents, human rights defenders and social activists such as economic blockage and kidnap and torture in a bid to silence them.
Victims of kidnap and torture include Truong Minh Tam from the Vietnam Pathway, Nguyen Cong Huan from the central province of Nghe An, Nguyen Trung Ton, president of the Brotherhood for Democracy, former prisoners of conscience Chu Manh Son and Nguyen Viet Dung, Nguyen Trung Truc and Mai Van Tam from Brotherhood for Democracy.
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Vietnamese Lawyers Asks Parliament to Remove Controversial Article in Amended Penal Code
Defend the Defenders: The Vietnam Bar Federation has urged the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) to remove a controversial article in the amended Penal Code 2015 which regulates relationship between defending lawyers and their clients.
In its statement sent to the NA’s chairperson, Standing Committee and Committee for Legal Affairs, Do Ngoc Thinh, president of the Vietnam Bar Federation said Article 19 of the amended Penal Code is against the Criminal Procedure Code and is not in line with international standard.
According to the article of the amended Penal Code which is under debate of the parliament in its ongoing May-June session, lawyers will be punished if he/she does not denounce his/her clients.
The regulation requires lawyers to denounce their clients will be conflicted with Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that lawyers cannot unveil information of their clients unless their clients agree with written approval, the federation said.
The federation proposed to remove Article 19 or change it in the way that requiring lawyers’ duty to denounce their clients only in serious cases relating to national security.
Last week, Hanoi-based lawyer Dinh Viet Thanh declared that he would give up his profession if the Vietnamese parliament will keep a controversial article regarding relations between lawyers and their clients in the 2015 Penal Code.
The Vietnamese rubber-stamp parliament, in its going one-month session, is holding discussions on Article 19 of the 2015 Penal Code, which requires a lawyer to denounce his/her client if the latter commits any of the 86 listed serious criminal offenses.
Mr. Thanh and dozens of his colleagues went to meet with the standing members of the Vietnam Bar Federation to talk about the article of the bill which was approved by the communist-controlled parliament in 2015 but was suspended from implementation and being amended by the lawmaking body.
The Vietnam Bar Federation should persuade the parliament to remove the article from the bill, the lawyers said.
Mr. Thanh said he is working with many foreigners and his clients will not trust in Vietnamese lawyers if the article exists. His stance was applauded by many colleagues.
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Overdue Detention Rampant in HCM City: Procuracy
Defend the Defenders: Overdue detention is rampant in Ho Chi Minh City as 452 people are kept in police custody for over 12 months without being tried or freed, said the city’s People’s Procuracy.
As of May 31, there are seven people are still in detention while the investigation period for their cases ran out, the Procuracy said.
The People’s Procuracy in the city said the city still holds 6,143 people in detention.
Doan Ta Cuu Long, head of the city’s People’s Procuracy said in many cases, the police investigation agency, People’s Court and the People’s Procuracy do not agree as the police insist criminal acts while the other two agencies say no or just civil relations.
===== June 10 =====
Vietnam Ministry Proposes $2,200 Fine for Posting “Harmful” Content on Social Networks
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications has proposed fines of up to VND50 million ($2,200) for those using social media to spread “distorted information” or to expose other people’s secrets, state media has reported.
The proposal has been made following the rapid growth of social networks in Vietnam and their “increasing influence,” said Le Quang Tu Do, a senior official of the ministry.
The fines were heavy given the country’s annual average income of around $2,200 last year.
The proposal suggests penalties of between VND30 million and VND50 million for people who share “false or libelous information” that defames individuals or organizations. Users will face the same punishment for creating fake pages or hacking into the accounts of other people or organizations, according to the proposal.
Those who disclose a person or organization’s secrets on social media without the party’s consent will be fined between VND20 billion and VND30 million, the proposal said. The same penalty will be imposed for detailed descriptions of sexual offenses or horrific attacks or accidents, it said.
The ministry is polling public opinions on the proposal and has not revealed any details of how the fines would be issued.
Vietnam has 49 million internet users, or more than half of population, and more than 45 million social media accounts. Facebook is the most popular social network in the country with around 35 million users.
While social networks have become a bigger part of the internet-savvy community, a new study by the Vietnam Program for Internet and Society at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi found they often serve as a platform for public trashing and hate speech.
Nearly 80% of the 1,000 internet users surveyed said they were either victims or had witnessed public condemnation on Facebook or other sites, the research team told a conference in April.
The Vietnamese government has taken various steps to embrace social media. Vietnam’s Health Minister launched her official Facebook page more than two years ago to provide health information and receive questions from the public. That was months before Vietnam’s central government opened its own Facebook page in October 2015.
The government is also working with global giants to enhance internet management.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, pledged to help Vietnam prevent and remove “bad” information on its video site YouTube at a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last month.
Facebook in April also promised to cooperate with the Vietnamese government to block “bad” and “toxic” content.
Vietnam is striving to enhance online censorship amid rising public dissatisfaction due to economic difficulties, systemic corruption and serious environmental pollution. Last month, a legislator suggested adding criminal charges for those humiliating or slandering leaders of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and the state to the 2015 Penal Code. Currently, Vietnam sets out the charge for slandering in Article 122 and that for humiliation in Article 121.
===== June 11 =====
Authorities in Nghe An Continue Harassing Catholic Community, Sending Thugs to Beat Followers and Vandalize Church
Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An continue its persecution against the local Catholic community, sending thugs to beat followers and vandalize the church in the Van Thai sub-parish, Song Ngoc parish in Quynh Luu district, bloggers said.
In a number of video clips posted on Facebook, two unidentified men threw stones and brick to the church in the late night of June 7. Later, one of the men proceeded to urinate on the gate and entryway to the church.
The congregation of Song Ngoc parish and Vinh diocese has strongly criticized the government’s handling of a devastating toxic waste spill off the country’s central coast last year caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
Due to the attack, rocks scattered throughout the church’s courtyard as well as broken panes of glass above the building’s front doors.
Private houses of some parishioners were also attacked by stones and bricks.
In the previous night, night a group of young men wearing T-shirts and carrying banners depicting the red flag drove motorcycles to Van Thai church, where they began “screaming and creating public disorder.” The move aims to provoke parishioners while security forces are waiting to intervene.
Few days earlier, thugs beat followers and destroyed many private houses of Van Thai parishioners.
The attacks were made amid the intensified security in the region. Nghe An’s authorities are deploying a large number of mobile policemen to Song Ngoc commune.
Van Thai sub-parishioners, and other members of the coastal Song Ngoc parish, claim they were directly impacted by the Formosa spill and have complained that the government failed to include them in the compensation package.
For details: Vandals Target Vietnam Church Known For Anti-Formosa Sentiment
Police-Hired ‘Thugs’ Beat Vietnamese Anti-Formosa Catholics
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Vietnam Announces Decision to Revoke Citizenship of Political Dissident Pham Minh Hoang
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities have handed over the decision of revoking the citizenship of former political prisoner Pham Minh Hoang to him, the victim said.
The decision was signed by President Tran Dai Quang on May 17, three weeks before being handed over to Mr. Hoang, who also has French citizenship as he studied his master decree on engineering in the European country.
One week earlier, Mr. Hoang learned the Vietnam’s move from the French General Consul in Ho Chi Minh City.
Hoang said he would stay in Vietnam with his family so he submitted a letter to the French General Consul to reject his French citizenship.
The decision to strip Hoang of his Vietnamese nationality aims to expel the outspoken university lecturer to France. It would divide his family with old mother and disable brother.
Hoang was sent to France to study mathematics in 1973. When he returned, the communist soldiers took over the South Vietnam and unified the country. He hardly found his job until 2000 he started as a mathematics lecturer in the Saigon Polytechnics University.
In 2010, he was arrested for online writings and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Hoang, member of the U.S.-based pro-democracy Viet Tan Party, was sentenced to 17 months in prison and additional three years under house arrest.
After being released, Hoang met difficulties in teaching. Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have tried to cause problems for his French classes.
In 2016, police violently dispersed his class in democracy and human rights, confiscating many laptops of his students. He is under close surveillance of HCM City’s security forces.
Professor Hoang said he would stay in Vietnam, even in prison rather than living in other countries.
In response to Hoang’s case, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement saying it is extremely concerned about the Vietnamese government’s declared intention to expel him. RSF condemns this persecution of Hoang and urges the French authorities to give him their support.
The Paris-based RSF says it is appalled by this latest Vietnamese Communist Party attempt to intimidate and silence dissidents. Hoang’s announced expulsion is unjustified and out of all proportion, it said, adding the authorities must reverse this decision, which is typical of the blatant way they harass all those who raise controversial issues.
Vietnam has one of the worst scores of any country in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index, in which it is ranked 175th out of 180.