Defend the Defenders’ Latest Statistics: Vietnam Holds 234 Prisoners of Conscience

Defend the Defenders, Press Release, October 1, 2019

According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding at least 233 prisoners of conscience in prisons or similar forms of detention and female activist Huynh Thuc Vy under house arrest as of September 30 compared to 248 in late September last year. Vietnam still remains the second largest jailer of dissidents in the Southeast Asia, only behind Myanmar.

The above number includes 206 who have been convicted – typically of political crimes such as subversion, “propaganda against the state,” “abusing democratic freedom” and “undermining the national unity” –  and 28 others held in pre-trial detention. The list does not count Vietnamese American Michael Minh Phuong Nguyen and Vietnamese Australian Chau Van Kham, who are accused of conducting “attempts to overthrow the government” under Article 109 of the country’s 2015 Penal Code. Bloggers, lawyers, unionists, land rights activists, political dissidents, and followers of non-registered minority religions have been arrested and detained for peacefully exercising their internationally and constitutionally protected rights, principally the right to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of religion or belief. The list does not include individuals who have engaged in or advocated violence.

In the first nine months of 2018, Vietnam has arrested 23 human rights activists and Australian citizen Chau Van Kham. By the end of September, it has convicted 23 local activists and American citizen Michael Minh Phuong Nguyen and sentenced them to a total of 106.5 years in prison and 20 years of probation.

Twenty-two of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are female. All of these women come from the majority Kinh ethnic group. In total, 166 people, or 71% of the list, are ethnic Kinh. The second largest ethnic grouping on the list are Montagnards, a loose set of religious and ethnic minorities who live in the mountains of the Central Highlands. They account for 58 people, 24.7% of those on the list. Six from Hmong and two on the list are Khmer Krom.

Most prisoners of conscience have been charged with or convicted of allegations under Articles 79, 87 and 88 of the1999 Penal Code or Article 109, 117 and 331 in the 2015 Penal Code:

– 47 activists convicted or charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Penal Code);

– 37 activists convicted and five charged with anti-state propaganda (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code);

– 57 people from ethnic minorities were convicted for undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or 116 of the 2015 Penal Code);

– 7 activists were convicted or charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code);

– 9 activists were charged with “distruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Penal Code;

– 48 individuals were convicted of or charged with “disrupting public orders” (under Article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 318 of the 2015 Penal Code) for their peaceful activities. Thirty five of them were imprisoned for participating or being suspected of planning to participate in the mass demonstrations in mid-June 2018 and their aftermath;

– The charge(s) for 15 individuals are unknown or yet to be announced by authorities.

Background: Vietnam’s government continues its intensified crackdown on local dissent by convicting many activists and arresting numerous other government critics, bloggers, Facebook users, nonviolent demonstrators, and other critics of the government

In order to deal with growing social disatisfaction and silence activists as well as discourage critics, the government has applied severe measures, including sentencing democracy activists and human rights defenders to lengthy sentences, arresting outspoken bloggers and charging them with patently political “crimes,” and employing harsh measures to prevent street demonstrations.

In recent months, authorities in a number of provinces have arrested local Facebookers who have less public popularity just for their online posts and live streams.

Arrests in January-September: Between January 1 and September 30, Vietnam arrested 23 local activists and Vietnamese Australian Chau Van Kham. As many as 21 of them were charged under provisions of the Penal Code while the charges against the remaining three named Mr. Huynh Minh Tam and his younger sister Huynh Thi To Nga as well as Mr. Tran Van Quyen have not been announced.

On February 26, authorities in Dong Nai province detained Mr. Huynh Minh Tam at his private residence and kidnapped Ms. Huynh Thi To Nga two days later when she was working at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Police have been holding them incommunicado without informing their families about their situations and requested the families not to contact with other activists who try to provide financial and legal supports for them.

In general, during the past nine months of this year, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not carry out any arrest and all the arrests were made by authorities in provinces and their victims are mostly Facebookers with less popularity among dissent. As many as 14 Facebookers were arrested between January and September for their online activities and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 or “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

Australian Chau Van Kham was arrested together with Mr. Nguyen Van Vien, a member of the unregistered group Brotherhood for Democracy in HCM City on January 13. Both were charged with subversion and they will be brought to a court in the coming weeks.

Eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) named Doan Thi Hong, Ngo Van Dung, Ho Van Cuong, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh, Hoang Thi Thu Vang, Le Quy Loc, Tran Thanh Phuong and Do The Hoa have been held in pre-trial detention from early September last year without being brought to a court. Six of them were charged with “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the Penal Code while the allegations against Tran Thanh Phuong and Do The Hoa remain unknown.

Convictions: In the past nine months, Vietnam convicted 22 local activists and American citizen Michael Minh Phuong Nguyen to a total 106.5 years in jail and 20 years of probation.

Mr. Nguyen, who was arrested by police in HCM City on July 7, 2018 together with local activists Huynh Duc Thanh Binh and Tran Long Phi on allegation of subversion under Article 109 of the Penal Code, was sentenced to 12 years in prison while Binh and Phi were given ten and eight years in jail, respectively, by the People’s Court of HCM City in their trial on June 24.

Young activist Ha Hai Ninh was also convicted of subversion in July by a court in Quang Ninh province. However, his sentence has not been publicized.

Six Facebookers named Vu Thi Dung, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Duong Thi Lanh, Huynh Dac Tuy and Nguyen Van Cong Em were sentenced to between five and eight years in jail for the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Penal Code for their online posts on social media, particularly on Facebook. Also being convicted for online activities was Facebooker Le Van Sinh from the northern province of Ninh Binh and he was sentenced to five years on allegation of “abusing democratic freedom.”

Mr. Truong Huu Loc, who participated in the mass demonstration in HCM City on June 10 last year, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the allegation of “disrupting security” under Article 118 of the Penal Code. Meanwhile, Rah Lan Hip from the Central Highlands was convicted of “undermining unity policy” and sentenced to seven years for his activities which aimed to promote religious freedom.

The remaining eight activists were convicted of “causing public disorders” for their anti-corruption efforts.

Mistreatment in prison: Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security continues its policy to keep prisoners, especially the prisoners of conscience, under hard living conditions in a bid to punish them for their non-violent activities but harmful for the communist regime and break their mental strength. Along with sending prisoners of conscience to prisons far from their families, it allows authorities in prisons to apply other measures to make the life of jailed activists harder such as denial of their rights to regular meetings with their families, receiving additional food and medicines from their relatives, or force them to work hard without proper protective equipment.

In response, dozens of prisoners of conscience have conducted hunger strike to protest inhumane treatment. In June-July, jailed activists Truong Minh Duc, Nguyen Van Tuc, Tran Phi Dung and Dao Quang Thuc carried out 40-day fasting to protest the authorities in Prison camp No. 6 in Nghe An province after the prison’s authorities removed electrical fans from their cells amid extremely hot summer. Police in Nghe An also brutally beat dozens activists and relatives of prisoners of conscience when they went to the prison to support the fasting ones.

Jailed labor activist and environmentalist Hoang Duc Binh and religious advocate Nguyen Bac Truyen also conducted long hunger strike in An Diem Prison camp to protest the placement of their fellow Nguyen Van Hoa in solitary cell.

Pro-democracy activist Nguyen Van Dien, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 5 is carrying out his hunger strike from September 22, the second time within three months to demand for better living conditions in prison.

Release from prison: Between January 1 and September 30, as many as 38 prisoners of conscience completed their imprisonment and returned home while Mr. Le Anh Hung, who was arrested on July 5, 2018 on allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” was transferred to a mental hospital for forced treatment.

Among freed activists were Ms. Nguyen Dang Minh Man, who was convicted of subversion and sentenced to eight years in prison for her protest against China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea, and Mr. Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for “disrupting security” for his union activities.

As many as 29 protesters of the mass demonstration in mid-June 2018 completed their sentence. They were sentenced to between eight and 18 months for participating in peaceful demonstrations to protest two bills on Special Economic Zones and Cyber Security.

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The term “prisoner of conscience” (POC) was coined by Peter Benenson in the 1960s. It refers to any individual “imprisoned for his/her political, religious or conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status who have not used violence or advocated violence or hatred.”

Defend the Defenders is Vietnam’s independent non-profit organization working to promote human and civil rights in the Southeast Asian nation. It has a network of dozens of human rights defenders across the nation who report human rights abuse in their areas.

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List of Prisoners of Conscience as of September 30, 2019

(Source:  Defend the Defenders )