Defend the Defenders | September 17, 2017
===== September 11 =====
One More Criminal Suspect Beaten to Death in Police Custody in Central Vietnam
Defend the Defenders: Vo Tan Minh, 25, is the latest detainee found dead in police station in Vietnam amid increasing public concern about torture in the Southeast Asian nation.
Minh, a resident from Phan Rang-Thap Cham city, central province of Ninh Thuan, was detained on April 28 due to possessing small volume of drug. He was held in the temporary detention under the management of the province’s Police Department.
Later, Minh was transferred to the temporary detention facility under the management of police in Phan Rang- Thap Cham. The last time his family visited him on August 30, said his mother Pham Thi Thu Huyen.
On September 8, the province’s police informed Mrs. Huyen that Minh had died and his body is held in the Ninh Thuan General Hospital.
When they came to the hospital, the mother and other family members recognized numerous injuries on his body, including at his nape.
Police explained Minh was beaten to death in a clash, citing a video record. However, they have not said with whom he had fought.
Police said they will continue investigation about the death of Minh.
Minh was among numerous detainees who have been found dead in police custody in recent years after the country ratified the UN Convention against Torture (CAT).
Police torture is systemic in Vietnam, according to Human Rights Watch.
Nguyen Mai Trung Tuan, 17, who was released in late August after 24-month imprisonment for “Committing the crime of injuring or causing harm to the health of other persons” under Article 104 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code, said he was brutally beaten many times by police officers before and after trials. He was also treated as an animal, forced to work as construction worker during the imprisonment.
It is worth to note that prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was sentenced by the People’s Court of the central province of Khanh Hoa in late June to ten years in prison and part of indictment against her was her paper documenting over 30 deaths of suspects in police stations nationwide in recent years.
——————–
Hanoi Police Summon Leader of Dong Tam as Criminal Although no Probe Announced
On September 11, Hanoi police issued a summon letter for Le Dinh Cong, the head of Hoanh village in Dong Tam commune, to a police station to work on land dispute case and state officials’ hostage in April.
In the document, police labeled him as a criminal suspect although no probe has been publicized.
Mr. Cong and his father Le Dinh Kinh and some other villagers were illegally detained by authorities in My Duc district, Hanoi in mid-April. During the detention, 82-year-old and communist member Kinh was brutally assaulted with broken leg by police officers and the attack led to taking hostage of over 40 state officials and policemen by villagers for one week.
Few weeks ago, Hanoi police summoned 70 residents from Dong Tam to the city police’s Investigation Agency in Thien Quang street, however, most of them rejected to come.
In recent days, Hanoi police continued to summon villagers to the commune’s government building to work on “causing public disorders case” in the hostage.
The villagers questioned legality of the summon letters in which they were called criminal suspects although no probe has been announced.
On April 22, when Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung of the Hanoi People’s Committee pledged not to seek responsibilities of people taking part in the hostage, Dong Tam villagers freed 38 policemen and several local officials who were treated well during the week-lasting kidnapping case, the first case in the communist-ruled Vietnam.
However, Dong Tam villagers are still under threat of being prosecuted for taking state officials in hostage in a land dispute case which involves the military-run Viettel telecommunication group.
===== September 12 =====
Human Rights Watch Urges Cambodia to Protect Montagnards Refugees
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Cambodian government not to carry out its threats to imminently return a group of ethnic Montagnards to Vietnam, citing the judgment of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as saying that they are refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution if sent back.
In its statement released on September 12, the New York-based human rights organization says sending them back to their home country would violate Cambodia’s international and domestic legal obligations.
The call was made as Cambodia’s Interior Ministry has wrongly denied the claims of the 29 Montagnard refugees and is failing to cooperate with the UNHCR’s efforts to resettle them. The Cambodian government has not carried out a joint review process under which the UNHCR was to join a review of the government’s first-instance rejection decision. Cambodia then refused a UNHCR offer to relocate the refugees to a third country.
Under no circumstances should Cambodia force these refugees back to Vietnam, where they would face severe persecution on political and religious grounds, said HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson.
Members of the group reported receiving threats that they would be imprisoned if they ever tried to flee abroad so now they have great concerns about what sort of reception they will receive if returned to Vietnam.
One Montagnard in Phnom Penh who was imprisoned in Vietnam before fleeing to Cambodia told HRW his fear of being returned: “They will not let me live in peace, they will arrest me, and they will do even more to me than they did before. They will say good words to try to convince people to go back. But when they go back they will be arrested. I know because I was in jail already.”
In mid-August 2017, a group of Cambodian Interior Ministry officials, including senior Refugee Department staff, traveled with Vietnamese authorities to some villages in Vietnam where family members of the asylum seekers in Cambodia live. Montagnard and nongovernmental group sources told HRW that the officials intimidated some of the younger relatives to write letters saying it was safe for their relatives to return to Vietnam.
In April 2017, a Montagnard asylum-seeker who was returned to Vietnam from Cambodia was detained and interrogated for 12 days by Vietnamese authorities. In May, a video recording emerged on Vietnamese television of apparently forced confessions by Montagnards who claimed to be returned refugees
Vietnam imposes criminal penalties on dissenters returned under Article 91 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code, which provides 3 to 12 years in prison for those who “flee abroad or defect to stay overseas with a view to opposing the people’s administration.”
Vietnam has a long and well-documented history of persecuting Montagnards. Many from these upland ethnic minorities were allied with the French and Americans in Vietnam during the war years between 1946 and 1975, and many adopted Christianity. Since the Communist government assumed power, these groups have faced political persecution, forced repudiation of their faith, shuttering of Christian house churches, and constant monitoring and surveillance by Vietnam police, soldiers, and officials.
Full statement of HRW: Cambodia: Protect Montagnards Refugees
===== September 13 =====
NGOs Identify Human Rights Abusers, Corrupt Actors for Sanctions Under U.S. Bill
Human Rights First: Human Rights First today called on the Trump Administration to use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to levy targeted sanctions against individuals in 15 cases from around the world who have engaged in significant human rights violations and grand corruption. The call came in a letter and package of materials delivered to the secretary of state and secretary of treasury.
The letter and materials reflect the work of dozens of human rights and anti-corruption NGOs, coordinated by Human Rights First, that have worked together over many months to assemble case files on alleged crimes spanning 15 countries. The information provided to the U.S. government today calls for individuals from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mexico, Panama, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam to be placed under sanctions.
“The Global Magnitsky Act is the most innovative, far-reaching tool ever created to deter human rights violations and corruption,” said Human Rights First’s Senior Vice President for Policy Rob Berschinski. “This law allows the U.S. government to deny financial resources and travel to some of the worst criminals on the planet. NGOs, activists, and victims have assembled and handed to the government compelling evidence of crimes like rape, torture, and widespread fraud. Now the Trump Administration needs to act.”
In the letter, addressed to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, the consortium of NGOs called for targeted asset freezes and visa restrictions against the perpetrators named in their case files:
“The cases we have elected to highlight come from every region of the world, and involve horrific stories of torture, enforced disappearance, murder, sexual assault, extortion, and bribery,” wrote the consortium. “The implicated perpetrators vary in power and influence, and their victims range from full-time human rights activists to members of religious minorities to students demonstrating against injustice. In cases dealing with acts of significant corruption, victims often include entire societies.”
The Global Magnitsky Act is the most comprehensive human rights and anti-corruption sanctions tool in U.S. history. Passed with bipartisan support and signed into law in December 2016, the law is named after whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned and murdered in 2009 by Russian authorities after exposing a large-scale fraud. Under the act, the U.S. government may sanction foreign individuals and entities found to have committed gross violations of human rights, or to have engaged in significant acts of corruption, by subjecting designees to asset freezes and visa restrictions. The law expands upon the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which applied only to Russian individuals and entities.
“If used to its full potential, the Global Magnitsky Act will give pause to those that use violence to silence whistleblowers and dissent, sustain those persecuted for their defense of fundamental freedoms, and potentially deter crimes before they’re committed,” added Berschinski, who coordinated the efforts of the consortium of NGOs. “This law puts the United States in the driver’s seat concerning international efforts to protect human rights defenders and combat impunity—but only if it’s used.”
For more information or to speak with Berschinski, contact Christopher Plummer at PlummerC@humanrightsfirst.org or 202-370-3310.
===== September 14 =====
Police Colonel Appointed to Head Committee on Religious Affairs
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has appointed Colonel Vu Chien Thang, head of the Security Department for Northwestern region under the Ministry of Public Security as chairman of the Government Committee on Religious Affairs under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Colonel Thang was deputy head of the Department of Public Security in the central province of Nghe An and police chief in Quang Tri province, the two localities with severe harassment against dissidents and human rights defenders.
The Government Committee on Religious Affairs monitors religious activities nationwide.
In the past, heads of the organizations also came from the police forces.
Vietnam has been accused of consistent suppression of small religious and unregistered groups. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently has proposed the State Department to re-include Vietnam in the list of Country of Particular Concerns (CPC) for its systemic violations of religious freedom.
===== September 17 =====
Relatives, Friends of Human Rights Activist Nguyen Van Oai Blocked from Observe Trial against Him
Defend the Defenders: September 17, authorities in the central province of Nghe An blocked relatives and friends of human rights activist Nguyen Van Oai on their way to Vinh City to observe the open trial against him scheduled on September 18.
When a group of relatives and friends of Oai were on cars heading to the city from their native town of Hoang Mai, traffic police stopped their cars for administrative checking and held the vehicles for hours without giving specific reasons for their move.
Plainclothes agents were also deployed on the national road connecting the town and city in a bid not to allow people to go to the trial.
Many activists have complained that they were placed de facto under house arrest one day prior to the first court hearing.
Defend the Defenders has learned from a foreign diplomat that some foreign embassies in Vietnam asked permission from authorities to send their representatives to attend the trial but their requests were rejected.
In political cases, Vietnam has applied common practice to prevent relatives and friends of the defendants and other activists from entering the courtrooms. They are even not allowed to gather the court areas and in many cases, plainclothes agents attacked activists.
In many cases, foreign reporters and diplomats have also been rejected to attend the trials or permitted to observe the events via screen in other rooms.
For more information on Nguyen Van Oai, please visit our website: /category/nguyen-van-oai/
================================
Height Insoles: Hi, I do believe this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon …
http://fishinglovers.net: Appreciate you sharing, great post.Thanks Again. Keep writi…
Achilles Pain causes: Every weekend i used to pay a quick visit this site, as i w…
September 17, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly September 11-17, 2017: One More Vietnamese Dies in Police Custody, Reasons Remain Unknown
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | September 17, 2017
Vo Tan Minh, who was detained for possessing drug, died last week in police custody and the causes of his death remains unclear. Police in the central city of Phan Rang-Thap Cham said he was beaten in a clash but giving no details.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Cambodian government not to carry out its threats to imminently return a group of ethnic Montagnards to Vietnam, saying that they are refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution if sent back. The call was made as Cambodia’s Interior Ministry has wrongly denied the claims of the 29 Montagnard refugees and is failing to cooperate with the UNHCR’s efforts to resettle them.
Human Rights First has called on the U.S. to use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to levy targeted sanctions against individuals in 15 cases from around the world who have engaged in significant human rights violations and grand corruption. Colonel Vu Van Lau, the police chief of Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, was among the targeted officials due to his suppression against religious minorities.
Vietnam appointed police colonel Vu Chien Thang as head of the Government Committee on Religious Affairs which monitors all religious activities in the country.
One day ahead of the open trial against human rights activist Nguyen Van Oai, authorities in the central city of Nghe An blocked his relatives and friends from going to Vinh city where the People’s Court in Hoang Mai town will hold the first hearing against him. Foreign diplomats are also not allowed to observe the trial.
===== September 11 =====
One More Criminal Suspect Beaten to Death in Police Custody in Central Vietnam
Defend the Defenders: Vo Tan Minh, 25, is the latest detainee found dead in police station in Vietnam amid increasing public concern about torture in the Southeast Asian nation.
Minh, a resident from Phan Rang-Thap Cham city, central province of Ninh Thuan, was detained on April 28 due to possessing small volume of drug. He was held in the temporary detention under the management of the province’s Police Department.
Later, Minh was transferred to the temporary detention facility under the management of police in Phan Rang- Thap Cham. The last time his family visited him on August 30, said his mother Pham Thi Thu Huyen.
On September 8, the province’s police informed Mrs. Huyen that Minh had died and his body is held in the Ninh Thuan General Hospital.
When they came to the hospital, the mother and other family members recognized numerous injuries on his body, including at his nape.
Police explained Minh was beaten to death in a clash, citing a video record. However, they have not said with whom he had fought.
Police said they will continue investigation about the death of Minh.
Minh was among numerous detainees who have been found dead in police custody in recent years after the country ratified the UN Convention against Torture (CAT).
Police torture is systemic in Vietnam, according to Human Rights Watch.
Nguyen Mai Trung Tuan, 17, who was released in late August after 24-month imprisonment for “Committing the crime of injuring or causing harm to the health of other persons” under Article 104 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code, said he was brutally beaten many times by police officers before and after trials. He was also treated as an animal, forced to work as construction worker during the imprisonment.
It is worth to note that prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was sentenced by the People’s Court of the central province of Khanh Hoa in late June to ten years in prison and part of indictment against her was her paper documenting over 30 deaths of suspects in police stations nationwide in recent years.
——————–
Hanoi Police Summon Leader of Dong Tam as Criminal Although no Probe Announced
On September 11, Hanoi police issued a summon letter for Le Dinh Cong, the head of Hoanh village in Dong Tam commune, to a police station to work on land dispute case and state officials’ hostage in April.
In the document, police labeled him as a criminal suspect although no probe has been publicized.
Mr. Cong and his father Le Dinh Kinh and some other villagers were illegally detained by authorities in My Duc district, Hanoi in mid-April. During the detention, 82-year-old and communist member Kinh was brutally assaulted with broken leg by police officers and the attack led to taking hostage of over 40 state officials and policemen by villagers for one week.
Few weeks ago, Hanoi police summoned 70 residents from Dong Tam to the city police’s Investigation Agency in Thien Quang street, however, most of them rejected to come.
In recent days, Hanoi police continued to summon villagers to the commune’s government building to work on “causing public disorders case” in the hostage.
The villagers questioned legality of the summon letters in which they were called criminal suspects although no probe has been announced.
On April 22, when Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung of the Hanoi People’s Committee pledged not to seek responsibilities of people taking part in the hostage, Dong Tam villagers freed 38 policemen and several local officials who were treated well during the week-lasting kidnapping case, the first case in the communist-ruled Vietnam.
However, Dong Tam villagers are still under threat of being prosecuted for taking state officials in hostage in a land dispute case which involves the military-run Viettel telecommunication group.
===== September 12 =====
Human Rights Watch Urges Cambodia to Protect Montagnards Refugees
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Cambodian government not to carry out its threats to imminently return a group of ethnic Montagnards to Vietnam, citing the judgment of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as saying that they are refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution if sent back.
In its statement released on September 12, the New York-based human rights organization says sending them back to their home country would violate Cambodia’s international and domestic legal obligations.
The call was made as Cambodia’s Interior Ministry has wrongly denied the claims of the 29 Montagnard refugees and is failing to cooperate with the UNHCR’s efforts to resettle them. The Cambodian government has not carried out a joint review process under which the UNHCR was to join a review of the government’s first-instance rejection decision. Cambodia then refused a UNHCR offer to relocate the refugees to a third country.
Under no circumstances should Cambodia force these refugees back to Vietnam, where they would face severe persecution on political and religious grounds, said HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson.
Members of the group reported receiving threats that they would be imprisoned if they ever tried to flee abroad so now they have great concerns about what sort of reception they will receive if returned to Vietnam.
One Montagnard in Phnom Penh who was imprisoned in Vietnam before fleeing to Cambodia told HRW his fear of being returned: “They will not let me live in peace, they will arrest me, and they will do even more to me than they did before. They will say good words to try to convince people to go back. But when they go back they will be arrested. I know because I was in jail already.”
In mid-August 2017, a group of Cambodian Interior Ministry officials, including senior Refugee Department staff, traveled with Vietnamese authorities to some villages in Vietnam where family members of the asylum seekers in Cambodia live. Montagnard and nongovernmental group sources told HRW that the officials intimidated some of the younger relatives to write letters saying it was safe for their relatives to return to Vietnam.
In April 2017, a Montagnard asylum-seeker who was returned to Vietnam from Cambodia was detained and interrogated for 12 days by Vietnamese authorities. In May, a video recording emerged on Vietnamese television of apparently forced confessions by Montagnards who claimed to be returned refugees
Vietnam imposes criminal penalties on dissenters returned under Article 91 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code, which provides 3 to 12 years in prison for those who “flee abroad or defect to stay overseas with a view to opposing the people’s administration.”
Vietnam has a long and well-documented history of persecuting Montagnards. Many from these upland ethnic minorities were allied with the French and Americans in Vietnam during the war years between 1946 and 1975, and many adopted Christianity. Since the Communist government assumed power, these groups have faced political persecution, forced repudiation of their faith, shuttering of Christian house churches, and constant monitoring and surveillance by Vietnam police, soldiers, and officials.
Full statement of HRW: Cambodia: Protect Montagnards Refugees
===== September 13 =====
NGOs Identify Human Rights Abusers, Corrupt Actors for Sanctions Under U.S. Bill
Human Rights First: Human Rights First today called on the Trump Administration to use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to levy targeted sanctions against individuals in 15 cases from around the world who have engaged in significant human rights violations and grand corruption. The call came in a letter and package of materials delivered to the secretary of state and secretary of treasury.
The letter and materials reflect the work of dozens of human rights and anti-corruption NGOs, coordinated by Human Rights First, that have worked together over many months to assemble case files on alleged crimes spanning 15 countries. The information provided to the U.S. government today calls for individuals from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mexico, Panama, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam to be placed under sanctions.
“The Global Magnitsky Act is the most innovative, far-reaching tool ever created to deter human rights violations and corruption,” said Human Rights First’s Senior Vice President for Policy Rob Berschinski. “This law allows the U.S. government to deny financial resources and travel to some of the worst criminals on the planet. NGOs, activists, and victims have assembled and handed to the government compelling evidence of crimes like rape, torture, and widespread fraud. Now the Trump Administration needs to act.”
In the letter, addressed to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, the consortium of NGOs called for targeted asset freezes and visa restrictions against the perpetrators named in their case files:
“The cases we have elected to highlight come from every region of the world, and involve horrific stories of torture, enforced disappearance, murder, sexual assault, extortion, and bribery,” wrote the consortium. “The implicated perpetrators vary in power and influence, and their victims range from full-time human rights activists to members of religious minorities to students demonstrating against injustice. In cases dealing with acts of significant corruption, victims often include entire societies.”
The Global Magnitsky Act is the most comprehensive human rights and anti-corruption sanctions tool in U.S. history. Passed with bipartisan support and signed into law in December 2016, the law is named after whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned and murdered in 2009 by Russian authorities after exposing a large-scale fraud. Under the act, the U.S. government may sanction foreign individuals and entities found to have committed gross violations of human rights, or to have engaged in significant acts of corruption, by subjecting designees to asset freezes and visa restrictions. The law expands upon the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which applied only to Russian individuals and entities.
“If used to its full potential, the Global Magnitsky Act will give pause to those that use violence to silence whistleblowers and dissent, sustain those persecuted for their defense of fundamental freedoms, and potentially deter crimes before they’re committed,” added Berschinski, who coordinated the efforts of the consortium of NGOs. “This law puts the United States in the driver’s seat concerning international efforts to protect human rights defenders and combat impunity—but only if it’s used.”
For more information or to speak with Berschinski, contact Christopher Plummer at PlummerC@humanrightsfirst.org or 202-370-3310.
===== September 14 =====
Police Colonel Appointed to Head Committee on Religious Affairs
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has appointed Colonel Vu Chien Thang, head of the Security Department for Northwestern region under the Ministry of Public Security as chairman of the Government Committee on Religious Affairs under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Colonel Thang was deputy head of the Department of Public Security in the central province of Nghe An and police chief in Quang Tri province, the two localities with severe harassment against dissidents and human rights defenders.
The Government Committee on Religious Affairs monitors religious activities nationwide.
In the past, heads of the organizations also came from the police forces.
Vietnam has been accused of consistent suppression of small religious and unregistered groups. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently has proposed the State Department to re-include Vietnam in the list of Country of Particular Concerns (CPC) for its systemic violations of religious freedom.
===== September 17 =====
Relatives, Friends of Human Rights Activist Nguyen Van Oai Blocked from Observe Trial against Him
Defend the Defenders: September 17, authorities in the central province of Nghe An blocked relatives and friends of human rights activist Nguyen Van Oai on their way to Vinh City to observe the open trial against him scheduled on September 18.
When a group of relatives and friends of Oai were on cars heading to the city from their native town of Hoang Mai, traffic police stopped their cars for administrative checking and held the vehicles for hours without giving specific reasons for their move.
Plainclothes agents were also deployed on the national road connecting the town and city in a bid not to allow people to go to the trial.
Many activists have complained that they were placed de facto under house arrest one day prior to the first court hearing.
Defend the Defenders has learned from a foreign diplomat that some foreign embassies in Vietnam asked permission from authorities to send their representatives to attend the trial but their requests were rejected.
In political cases, Vietnam has applied common practice to prevent relatives and friends of the defendants and other activists from entering the courtrooms. They are even not allowed to gather the court areas and in many cases, plainclothes agents attacked activists.
In many cases, foreign reporters and diplomats have also been rejected to attend the trials or permitted to observe the events via screen in other rooms.
For more information on Nguyen Van Oai, please visit our website: /category/nguyen-van-oai/
================================