Mr. Thong in Hanoi last year to seek for justice
By Vu Quoc Ngu, March 05, 2016
The Go Dau district People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh in its second hearing on March 04 sentenced local land petitioner Nguyen Van Thong to 42 months in jail, finding him guilty of democracy freedom abuse under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code.
The court upheld the sentence against Mr. Thong given by the first hearing of the same court held on September 22 last year although the result of the court was rejected by the Tay Ninh province’s appeal court held on Dec 16 last year.
During the hearing where the court did not summon witnesses or related people to the case, the Procuracy and the judges said Thong’s petitions for his seized land and his writings on his Facebook account have defamed officials of Go Dau district and Tay Ninh province, affecting Vietnam’s prestige on human rights in global stage.
Mr. Thong, whose 11,000-square-meter land was grabbed by local authorities without paying adequate compensation, said his denunciation is legal and his writings in social network have not defamed local cadres. Instead, the concerned officials got promotion, particular in case of Vo Van Dung, chairman of the district executive body People’s Committee, who was promoted to the ruling communist party’s Committee in Go Dau district.
However, the court ignored the defense provided by the defendant and his lawyers, including well-known human rights lawyer Vo An Don.
Mr. Thong, who was arrested on February 3, 2015 in Hanoi, is among nearly a hundred of land petitioners in Tay Ninh. His land was seized for building Phuoc Dong Urban and Industrial Complex.
During 2014-2015, he and other land petitioners in Tay Ninh went to Hanoi to fill their denunciations to government agencies and demand for justice.
Thong said many land petitioners in Tay Ninh were detained and severely beaten in police’s custody.
In the communist Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only get the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying low compensation, for national security and other public purposes. Authorities in many localities have abused their power, grabbing land and giving to industrial and urban projects at prices much higher than the compensation prices.
Due to low compensation for their land, thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice. Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese land petitioners have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the single party-ruled regime maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and gives locals rights to use it only, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to the government report.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles such as 79, 88, 245 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence political dissidents, social activists, human rights defenders and land petitioners, observers said.
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March 5, 2016
Vietnam Court Upholds 42-month Imprisonment for Land Petitioner in Unfair Trial
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], Nguyen Van Thong
Mr. Thong in Hanoi last year to seek for justice
By Vu Quoc Ngu, March 05, 2016
The Go Dau district People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh in its second hearing on March 04 sentenced local land petitioner Nguyen Van Thong to 42 months in jail, finding him guilty of democracy freedom abuse under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code.
The court upheld the sentence against Mr. Thong given by the first hearing of the same court held on September 22 last year although the result of the court was rejected by the Tay Ninh province’s appeal court held on Dec 16 last year.
During the hearing where the court did not summon witnesses or related people to the case, the Procuracy and the judges said Thong’s petitions for his seized land and his writings on his Facebook account have defamed officials of Go Dau district and Tay Ninh province, affecting Vietnam’s prestige on human rights in global stage.
Mr. Thong, whose 11,000-square-meter land was grabbed by local authorities without paying adequate compensation, said his denunciation is legal and his writings in social network have not defamed local cadres. Instead, the concerned officials got promotion, particular in case of Vo Van Dung, chairman of the district executive body People’s Committee, who was promoted to the ruling communist party’s Committee in Go Dau district.
However, the court ignored the defense provided by the defendant and his lawyers, including well-known human rights lawyer Vo An Don.
Mr. Thong, who was arrested on February 3, 2015 in Hanoi, is among nearly a hundred of land petitioners in Tay Ninh. His land was seized for building Phuoc Dong Urban and Industrial Complex.
During 2014-2015, he and other land petitioners in Tay Ninh went to Hanoi to fill their denunciations to government agencies and demand for justice.
Thong said many land petitioners in Tay Ninh were detained and severely beaten in police’s custody.
In the communist Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only get the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying low compensation, for national security and other public purposes. Authorities in many localities have abused their power, grabbing land and giving to industrial and urban projects at prices much higher than the compensation prices.
Due to low compensation for their land, thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice. Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese land petitioners have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the single party-ruled regime maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and gives locals rights to use it only, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to the government report.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles such as 79, 88, 245 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence political dissidents, social activists, human rights defenders and land petitioners, observers said.