Defend the Defenders | May 14, 2017
===== May 9 =====
19 Catholic Priests Protest Local Authorities’ Acts against Fathers Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc in Nghe An Province
Defend the Defenders: As many as 19 Catholic priests in Thuan Nghia and Vang Mai parishes in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An issued a joint statement protesting the ongoing campaign of the province’s authorities against priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc.
In their joint statement, the priests expressed their sympathy to Fathers Nam and Thuc, and condemned a range of acts committed by the local authorities, including organizing public demonstrations in which participants were paid to hold banners requesting prosecution of the two priests and publicizing news with false information about the religious clerks.
These acts are illegal and immoral, the priests said, adding that the province’s leadership must end these activities and publicly apologize to Fathers Nam and Thuc.
As Defend the Defenders reported, authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An have launched a public campaign against Father Nam from the Phu Yen parish and Father Thuc from the Song Ngoc parish, who have both been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in 2016.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations, such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students, to organize demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa company for causing the environmental catastrophe.
Participants in these events were asked to hang banners which called for a strict punishment of the two priests, who were accused of “dividing national unity” and “harming public security.” Some sources reported that each participant received between VND 50,000 ($2.2) and VND 200,000 from the local authorities’ budget.
The Quynh Luu district government also produced leaflets condemning the two priests. The leaflets were disseminated on the streets along with propaganda slogans of the regime.
A number of articles have been published in Nghe An newspapers and programs broadcast on the province’s television channel, which provided distorted information about the two priests and Catholic followers.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up the consequences of the toxic spill and to compensate coastal residents affected by it, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held regularly, more than a year later.
In recent months, there have been a number of peaceful demonstrations against Formosa in the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh with the participation of thousands of local Catholic followers. Local authorities have responded to such demonstrations by sending police and thugs to violently suppress protestors and even assault priests. Many people have sustained severe injuries as a result of the crackdown.
19 Linh mục Nghệ An phản đối nhà cầm quyền Nghệ An đấu tố hai Linh mục Đặng Hữu Nam và Nguyễn Đình Thục
===== May 10 =====
Overseas Civil Society Groups Prepare for Annual Vietnam-U.S. Human Rights Dialogue
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese-American civil society organizations (CSOs) are preparing for the annual Vietnam-U.S. human rights dialogue, which is scheduled to take place at the end of May.
The U.S. Department of State has invited a range of organizations to join a roundtable seminar on May 12 to prepare for this 21st session of the dialogue. Chairing the seminar will be Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State.
The focus of the meeting will be on prisoners of conscience, freedom of religion, forced land eviction, environmental issues, freedom of speech and the Internet, and independent labor unions.
According to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, chairman of the International Committee for Freedom to Support the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam, the group will raise issues on the Communist leadership’s increasing harassment as well as arrests of dissidents or members of independent civil society organizations (CSOs).
The committee will also call for immediate release of all political prisoners. Dr. Nguyen The Binh from Vietnam for Progress also expressed its wish to bring up the case of Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hoa Buddhist follower who was arrested by Vinh Long police on May 2 and subsequently died at the police station. Although the police said Mr. Tan used a knife to commit suicide, his family believes that he was tortured and killed by police officers.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, president of Boat People SOS (BPSOS), said an inter-religious group will meet with State Department officials on May 15 to campaign for freedom of religion or belief in Vietnam.
The 20th session of the Vietnam-U.S. Human Rights Dialogue took place on April 25, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Former Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski and Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International Organizations Director General Vu Anh Quang led their respective delegations in the Dialogue.
Đối thoại nhân quyền Việt Mỹ 2017: Việt Nam cần tu sửa luật pháp
===== May 11 =====
23rd Vietnam Human Rights Day Commemorated at U.S. Congress
Defend the Defenders: The 23rd commemoration of the Vietnam Human Rights Day was held at the U.S. Senate House Building on May 11 with the participation of the Vietnamese-American community in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and local non-governmental human rights groups.
The organizations of the event included the Rally for Democracy, the Vietnam Human Rights Network, the television broadcasting company SBTN, and Boat People SOS (BPSOS). U.S. Senator John Cornyn sponsored the event this year.
Speaking at the ceremony, BPSOS President Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang pointed out that although it has been 23 years since the U.S. Congress and President Clinton appointed May 11 as the Vietnam Human Rights Day, many serious issues remained concerning the human rights situation in Vietnam.
Sharing the concerns, Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, also brought up the issues of Internet freedom and Vietnam’s legal reform.
He said it is worrying that in the past year Vietnamese authorities have stepped up efforts to limit publications on the Internet, especially YouTube and Facebook, in cases where such information is deemed “toxic” or “politically sensitive.”
He added that Vietnam’s efforts to reform its law in line with the 2013 Constitution is slower than expected.
He also informed the attendance that the U.S. and Vietnam will hold the 21st round of their annual human rights dialogue next week prior to the visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the U.S., which is scheduled at the end of May.
According to Mr. Busby, the high-level meeting will give the U.S. room to pressure Vietnam on improving human rights.
In terms of pressure from the legislative branch, Senator Cornyn said he will soon re-introduce the bill on sanctioning Vietnam for violating human rights.
Touching on President Donald Trump’s visit to Vietnam later this year, Senator Cornyn said he has called on the president to use this trip to reiterate U.S. commitments to human rights as well as to remind Vietnam of the conditions for international integration and closer security and economic ties with the U.S.
Giới lập pháp đòi Trump thúc đẩy nhân quyền Việt Nam
——————–
Vietnam to Bring Activist Tran Thi Nga to Court Soon; Heavy Sentence Expected
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities will soon bring human rights activist Tran Thi Nga to court on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, her lawyer Ha Huy Son said.
Lawyer Son was allowed to meet Ms. Nga in May, for the first time since her arrest late January and after the investigation period ended on May 5, as the investigation agency of the northern province of Ha Nam announced. The police in Ha Nam province handed over her investigation report to the province’s People’s Procuracy.
However, Son has not been able to take a copy of the investigation report to prepare her defense yet.
According to the current Vietnamese law, she is facing imprisonment of up to 20 years if convicted. Some activists predicted that her sentence would be of at least five years in jail.
Lawyer Son said her health is not good as she has knee pains from a broken leg, due to an attack which was carried out by a group of plainclothes agents in Hanoi in 2014.
Ms. Nga was a migrant worker in Taiwan. While working there, she assisted Vietnamese workers to demand that Vietnamese brokers take responsibility to ensure the rights of migrant workers.
Upon her return to Vietnam, about ten years ago, she has assisted land petitioners who lost their land due to illegal seizure from local authorities, and disseminated information about human rights across the nation.
She also participated in many anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi from 2011 to 2016 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), as well as in peaceful gatherings to demand multi-party democracy.
Prior to her arrest, she had been persecuted and intimidated by Vietnam’s security forces, who kept her under close surveillance. She was brutally beaten by plainclothes agents in Hanoi in 2014 and her children were attacked with dirty substances last year.
Many foreign countries such as the U.S. and the EU, international human rights organizations such as the Southeast Asia Regional Office of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a partnership of FIDH and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)) and Human Rights Watch, have called for her immediate and unconditional release. Thirty domestic civil society organizations and 816 activists also signed a petition addressed to Vietnam’s government to urge it to release the mother of four children, including a seven-year-old and a four-year-old.
Ms. Nga is among the six Southeast Asian women human rights activists who have been honored by Amnesty International on March 7, one day ahead of International Woman Day (May 8).
Her arrest is part of Vietnam’s ongoing political crackdown against local dissidients. According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam holds around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains around 90 prisoners of conscience.
Hanoi has consistently rejected holding any prisoners of conscience, saying it only detains persons who have violated the law.
===== May 12 =====
Vietnam Authorities Issues Warrant for Human Rights Defender Bach Hong Quyen, Harassing His Family
Defend the Defenders: On May 12, police in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh officially issued an arrest warrant for human rights defender and environmental activist Bach Hong Quyen, accusing him of “causing public disorder” under Article 245 of the country’s Penal Code.
The warrant was based on an incident that occurred on April 3, when Mr. Quyen, a member of the pro-democracy Vietnam Path Movement (Con Duong Viet Nam), and many residents of Thạch Bằng and Thạch Kim villages came to Loc Ha district People’s Committee office building to demand that local authorities provide answers about the Formosa-caused disaster and the fact that gunshots had been fired to threaten the people the previous night. The authorities singled him out as the protest instigator.
Police were reported to come to threaten Quyen’s grandfather and his wife, asking them to cooperate in arresting him. However, his grandfather and wife rejected the demand, saying that Quyen is innocent and only works to promote human rights and protect the environment.
Mr. Quyen said that Ha Tinh authorities wanted to jail him to prevent him from reporting on the Formosa disaster and spreading the news to the public. “The charge of ‘causing public disorder’ that has been pressed on me is wrong, [the authorities] forced it on me intentionally, to muzzle me and prevent me from [going to Ha Tinh] to help the people,” he was quoted by the Radio Free Asia as saying.
Mr Quyen often participated in protests against social injustice, China’s hegemony in the East Sea (South China Sea), and anti-Formosa protests. Thanks to his photos of these protests, the public enjoyed direct appreciation of what was actually going on.
Responding to the authorities’ move, residents in the central province of Ha Tinh said thousands of people will join street marches in support of Quyen, who covered news and helped Catholic followers and other people overcome the environmental disaster caused by Formosa. They said they could not understand why Vietnam’s authorities had covered up Formosa’s shady behavior and condemned kind-hearted individuals who seek to help the affected people.
If arrested, Mr. Quyen will be the second blogger to be deprived of his liberty for delivering news on the natural catastrophe caused by Formosa’s illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste in the central coastal waters, which killed thousands of tons of fisheries in April 2016.
In January, Ha Tinh police arrested blogger Nguyen Van Hoa for covering news related to Formosa’s toxic discharge. He was initially charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 but later charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code instead.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held regularly, more than a year later.
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May 15, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly May 8-14: Vietnam Officially Issues Arrest Warrant for HRD Bach Hong Quyen
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | May 14, 2017
On 12 May, the police in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh officially issued an arrest warrant against human rights defender and environmental activist Bach Hong Quyen, accusing him of “causing public disorder” under Article 245 of the country’s Penal Code.
Quyen is among many Vietnamese activists who have been harassed by Vietnam’s authorities for covering the April 2016 Formosa toxic waste spill, which caused massive deaths of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, or for their involvement in ongoing protests against the company.
Police in the northern province of Ha Nam said they completed an investigation on human rights activist Tran Thi Nga, who was arrested on January 21 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Vietnam’s Penal Code. The investigation report was sent to the province’s Procuracy and her trial is due to be held soon.
As many as 19 Catholic priests in Thuan Nghia and Vang Mai parishes in the central province of Nghe An have issued a joint statement protesting the ongoing campaign of the province’s authorities against priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc. In their joint statement, the priests expressed their sympathy to Fathers Nam and Thuc and condemned a range of acts committed by the local authorities, including organizing public demonstrations in which participants were paid to hold banners requesting prosecution of the two priests and publicizing news with false information about the religious clerks.
And other news
===== May 9 =====
19 Catholic Priests Protest Local Authorities’ Acts against Fathers Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc in Nghe An Province
Defend the Defenders: As many as 19 Catholic priests in Thuan Nghia and Vang Mai parishes in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An issued a joint statement protesting the ongoing campaign of the province’s authorities against priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc.
In their joint statement, the priests expressed their sympathy to Fathers Nam and Thuc, and condemned a range of acts committed by the local authorities, including organizing public demonstrations in which participants were paid to hold banners requesting prosecution of the two priests and publicizing news with false information about the religious clerks.
These acts are illegal and immoral, the priests said, adding that the province’s leadership must end these activities and publicly apologize to Fathers Nam and Thuc.
As Defend the Defenders reported, authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An have launched a public campaign against Father Nam from the Phu Yen parish and Father Thuc from the Song Ngoc parish, who have both been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in 2016.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations, such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students, to organize demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa company for causing the environmental catastrophe.
Participants in these events were asked to hang banners which called for a strict punishment of the two priests, who were accused of “dividing national unity” and “harming public security.” Some sources reported that each participant received between VND 50,000 ($2.2) and VND 200,000 from the local authorities’ budget.
The Quynh Luu district government also produced leaflets condemning the two priests. The leaflets were disseminated on the streets along with propaganda slogans of the regime.
A number of articles have been published in Nghe An newspapers and programs broadcast on the province’s television channel, which provided distorted information about the two priests and Catholic followers.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up the consequences of the toxic spill and to compensate coastal residents affected by it, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held regularly, more than a year later.
In recent months, there have been a number of peaceful demonstrations against Formosa in the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh with the participation of thousands of local Catholic followers. Local authorities have responded to such demonstrations by sending police and thugs to violently suppress protestors and even assault priests. Many people have sustained severe injuries as a result of the crackdown.
19 Linh mục Nghệ An phản đối nhà cầm quyền Nghệ An đấu tố hai Linh mục Đặng Hữu Nam và Nguyễn Đình Thục
===== May 10 =====
Overseas Civil Society Groups Prepare for Annual Vietnam-U.S. Human Rights Dialogue
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese-American civil society organizations (CSOs) are preparing for the annual Vietnam-U.S. human rights dialogue, which is scheduled to take place at the end of May.
The U.S. Department of State has invited a range of organizations to join a roundtable seminar on May 12 to prepare for this 21st session of the dialogue. Chairing the seminar will be Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State.
The focus of the meeting will be on prisoners of conscience, freedom of religion, forced land eviction, environmental issues, freedom of speech and the Internet, and independent labor unions.
According to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, chairman of the International Committee for Freedom to Support the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam, the group will raise issues on the Communist leadership’s increasing harassment as well as arrests of dissidents or members of independent civil society organizations (CSOs).
The committee will also call for immediate release of all political prisoners. Dr. Nguyen The Binh from Vietnam for Progress also expressed its wish to bring up the case of Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hoa Buddhist follower who was arrested by Vinh Long police on May 2 and subsequently died at the police station. Although the police said Mr. Tan used a knife to commit suicide, his family believes that he was tortured and killed by police officers.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, president of Boat People SOS (BPSOS), said an inter-religious group will meet with State Department officials on May 15 to campaign for freedom of religion or belief in Vietnam.
The 20th session of the Vietnam-U.S. Human Rights Dialogue took place on April 25, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Former Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski and Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International Organizations Director General Vu Anh Quang led their respective delegations in the Dialogue.
Đối thoại nhân quyền Việt Mỹ 2017: Việt Nam cần tu sửa luật pháp
===== May 11 =====
23rd Vietnam Human Rights Day Commemorated at U.S. Congress
Defend the Defenders: The 23rd commemoration of the Vietnam Human Rights Day was held at the U.S. Senate House Building on May 11 with the participation of the Vietnamese-American community in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and local non-governmental human rights groups.
The organizations of the event included the Rally for Democracy, the Vietnam Human Rights Network, the television broadcasting company SBTN, and Boat People SOS (BPSOS). U.S. Senator John Cornyn sponsored the event this year.
Speaking at the ceremony, BPSOS President Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang pointed out that although it has been 23 years since the U.S. Congress and President Clinton appointed May 11 as the Vietnam Human Rights Day, many serious issues remained concerning the human rights situation in Vietnam.
Sharing the concerns, Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, also brought up the issues of Internet freedom and Vietnam’s legal reform.
He said it is worrying that in the past year Vietnamese authorities have stepped up efforts to limit publications on the Internet, especially YouTube and Facebook, in cases where such information is deemed “toxic” or “politically sensitive.”
He added that Vietnam’s efforts to reform its law in line with the 2013 Constitution is slower than expected.
He also informed the attendance that the U.S. and Vietnam will hold the 21st round of their annual human rights dialogue next week prior to the visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the U.S., which is scheduled at the end of May.
According to Mr. Busby, the high-level meeting will give the U.S. room to pressure Vietnam on improving human rights.
In terms of pressure from the legislative branch, Senator Cornyn said he will soon re-introduce the bill on sanctioning Vietnam for violating human rights.
Touching on President Donald Trump’s visit to Vietnam later this year, Senator Cornyn said he has called on the president to use this trip to reiterate U.S. commitments to human rights as well as to remind Vietnam of the conditions for international integration and closer security and economic ties with the U.S.
Giới lập pháp đòi Trump thúc đẩy nhân quyền Việt Nam
——————–
Vietnam to Bring Activist Tran Thi Nga to Court Soon; Heavy Sentence Expected
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities will soon bring human rights activist Tran Thi Nga to court on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, her lawyer Ha Huy Son said.
Lawyer Son was allowed to meet Ms. Nga in May, for the first time since her arrest late January and after the investigation period ended on May 5, as the investigation agency of the northern province of Ha Nam announced. The police in Ha Nam province handed over her investigation report to the province’s People’s Procuracy.
However, Son has not been able to take a copy of the investigation report to prepare her defense yet.
According to the current Vietnamese law, she is facing imprisonment of up to 20 years if convicted. Some activists predicted that her sentence would be of at least five years in jail.
Lawyer Son said her health is not good as she has knee pains from a broken leg, due to an attack which was carried out by a group of plainclothes agents in Hanoi in 2014.
Ms. Nga was a migrant worker in Taiwan. While working there, she assisted Vietnamese workers to demand that Vietnamese brokers take responsibility to ensure the rights of migrant workers.
Upon her return to Vietnam, about ten years ago, she has assisted land petitioners who lost their land due to illegal seizure from local authorities, and disseminated information about human rights across the nation.
She also participated in many anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi from 2011 to 2016 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), as well as in peaceful gatherings to demand multi-party democracy.
Prior to her arrest, she had been persecuted and intimidated by Vietnam’s security forces, who kept her under close surveillance. She was brutally beaten by plainclothes agents in Hanoi in 2014 and her children were attacked with dirty substances last year.
Many foreign countries such as the U.S. and the EU, international human rights organizations such as the Southeast Asia Regional Office of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a partnership of FIDH and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)) and Human Rights Watch, have called for her immediate and unconditional release. Thirty domestic civil society organizations and 816 activists also signed a petition addressed to Vietnam’s government to urge it to release the mother of four children, including a seven-year-old and a four-year-old.
Ms. Nga is among the six Southeast Asian women human rights activists who have been honored by Amnesty International on March 7, one day ahead of International Woman Day (May 8).
Her arrest is part of Vietnam’s ongoing political crackdown against local dissidients. According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam holds around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains around 90 prisoners of conscience.
Hanoi has consistently rejected holding any prisoners of conscience, saying it only detains persons who have violated the law.
===== May 12 =====
Vietnam Authorities Issues Warrant for Human Rights Defender Bach Hong Quyen, Harassing His Family
Defend the Defenders: On May 12, police in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh officially issued an arrest warrant for human rights defender and environmental activist Bach Hong Quyen, accusing him of “causing public disorder” under Article 245 of the country’s Penal Code.
The warrant was based on an incident that occurred on April 3, when Mr. Quyen, a member of the pro-democracy Vietnam Path Movement (Con Duong Viet Nam), and many residents of Thạch Bằng and Thạch Kim villages came to Loc Ha district People’s Committee office building to demand that local authorities provide answers about the Formosa-caused disaster and the fact that gunshots had been fired to threaten the people the previous night. The authorities singled him out as the protest instigator.
Police were reported to come to threaten Quyen’s grandfather and his wife, asking them to cooperate in arresting him. However, his grandfather and wife rejected the demand, saying that Quyen is innocent and only works to promote human rights and protect the environment.
Mr. Quyen said that Ha Tinh authorities wanted to jail him to prevent him from reporting on the Formosa disaster and spreading the news to the public. “The charge of ‘causing public disorder’ that has been pressed on me is wrong, [the authorities] forced it on me intentionally, to muzzle me and prevent me from [going to Ha Tinh] to help the people,” he was quoted by the Radio Free Asia as saying.
Mr Quyen often participated in protests against social injustice, China’s hegemony in the East Sea (South China Sea), and anti-Formosa protests. Thanks to his photos of these protests, the public enjoyed direct appreciation of what was actually going on.
Responding to the authorities’ move, residents in the central province of Ha Tinh said thousands of people will join street marches in support of Quyen, who covered news and helped Catholic followers and other people overcome the environmental disaster caused by Formosa. They said they could not understand why Vietnam’s authorities had covered up Formosa’s shady behavior and condemned kind-hearted individuals who seek to help the affected people.
If arrested, Mr. Quyen will be the second blogger to be deprived of his liberty for delivering news on the natural catastrophe caused by Formosa’s illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste in the central coastal waters, which killed thousands of tons of fisheries in April 2016.
In January, Ha Tinh police arrested blogger Nguyen Van Hoa for covering news related to Formosa’s toxic discharge. He was initially charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 but later charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code instead.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held regularly, more than a year later.