Activist Tran Thi Nga at her trial on July 25, 2017
Front Line Defenders, July 25, 2017
On 25 July 2017, the People’s Court in Ha Nam, south of Hanoi, sentenced human rights defender Tran Thi Nga to nine years imprisonment followed by an additional 5 years of house arrest. She was charged under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code for “using the Internet to spread propaganda videos and writings that are against the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
Tran Thi Nga is a member of Vietnamese Women For Human Rights, a group that includes overseas Vietnamese wishing to lend support, training, and encouragement to those who stand up to defend human rights in Vietnam. She has also assisted those whose land has been confiscated by local authorities and has demonstrated in support of democratic reform.
On 25 July 2017, Tran Thi Nga was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years under house arrest on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Her trial, held in the People’s Court in the southern province of Ha Nam from 8:30am to 5 pm, was closed to independent journalists and foreign diplomats. The defender’s husband and her young children were not allowed to attend the trial, nor were activists who came to the province to support her. A large number of police officers and plainclothes agents were deployed around the court premises, and some supporters reported being physically accosted as they tried to approach the building. Tran Thi Nga was arrested on 21 January 2017 and charged under Article 88 of the 1999 Vietnamese Penal Code for posting articles and videos online in which she condemned human rights violations committed by Vietnamese authorities.
Over the past few months Tran Thi Nga’s state of health has been declining due to a mucosal injury sustained in May 2014 after she was beaten by authorities in reprisal for her work documenting rights’ violations. According to her lawyer, she was denied proper medical treatment while detained in Ha Nam Police Detention Centre.
Article 88 has been widely used against human rights defenders who have highlighted abuses in Vietnam. On 29 June 2017, human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was given a 10 year jail sentence after a one day trial in the People’s Court in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province. She was jailed for her work demanding accountability and transparency following the illegal discharge of toxic waste into the sea off the Vietnamese coast in April 2016 by the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel company, a Taiwanese-owned steel plant in Ha Tinh province. The ensuing environmental disaster resulted in the deaths of millions of fish, leaving fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the conviction of human rights defender Tran Thi Nga, which it believes is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate work for human rights in Vietnam, and calls on the Vietnamese authorities to quash her conviction and immediately release the human rights defender. Front Line Defenders further calls on Vietnamese authorities to ensure that Tran Thi Nga receives all necessary medical treatment.
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July 26, 2017
Vietnam: Tran Thi Nga sentenced to nine years imprisonment
by Nhan Quyen • Tran Thi Nga (Tran Thuy Nga)
Activist Tran Thi Nga at her trial on July 25, 2017
Front Line Defenders, July 25, 2017
On 25 July 2017, the People’s Court in Ha Nam, south of Hanoi, sentenced human rights defender Tran Thi Nga to nine years imprisonment followed by an additional 5 years of house arrest. She was charged under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code for “using the Internet to spread propaganda videos and writings that are against the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
Tran Thi Nga is a member of Vietnamese Women For Human Rights, a group that includes overseas Vietnamese wishing to lend support, training, and encouragement to those who stand up to defend human rights in Vietnam. She has also assisted those whose land has been confiscated by local authorities and has demonstrated in support of democratic reform.
On 25 July 2017, Tran Thi Nga was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years under house arrest on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Her trial, held in the People’s Court in the southern province of Ha Nam from 8:30am to 5 pm, was closed to independent journalists and foreign diplomats. The defender’s husband and her young children were not allowed to attend the trial, nor were activists who came to the province to support her. A large number of police officers and plainclothes agents were deployed around the court premises, and some supporters reported being physically accosted as they tried to approach the building. Tran Thi Nga was arrested on 21 January 2017 and charged under Article 88 of the 1999 Vietnamese Penal Code for posting articles and videos online in which she condemned human rights violations committed by Vietnamese authorities.
Over the past few months Tran Thi Nga’s state of health has been declining due to a mucosal injury sustained in May 2014 after she was beaten by authorities in reprisal for her work documenting rights’ violations. According to her lawyer, she was denied proper medical treatment while detained in Ha Nam Police Detention Centre.
Article 88 has been widely used against human rights defenders who have highlighted abuses in Vietnam. On 29 June 2017, human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was given a 10 year jail sentence after a one day trial in the People’s Court in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province. She was jailed for her work demanding accountability and transparency following the illegal discharge of toxic waste into the sea off the Vietnamese coast in April 2016 by the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel company, a Taiwanese-owned steel plant in Ha Tinh province. The ensuing environmental disaster resulted in the deaths of millions of fish, leaving fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the conviction of human rights defender Tran Thi Nga, which it believes is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate work for human rights in Vietnam, and calls on the Vietnamese authorities to quash her conviction and immediately release the human rights defender. Front Line Defenders further calls on Vietnamese authorities to ensure that Tran Thi Nga receives all necessary medical treatment.