Right defender Nguyen Van Oai at trial on Sept 18, 2017
Defend the Defenders, January 11, 2018
The People’s Court in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An will hold an appeal hearing of human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai on January 15, according to the court’s notice to his lawyer Ha Huy Son.
Mr. Oai, who was arrested on January 19 last year and charged with “Resisting persons in the performance of their official duties” under Article 257 and “Failing to execute judgments” under Article 304 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code, was found guilty by the People’s Court in Hoang Mai town.
The district-level court held on September 18, 2017 sentenced Oai to five years in prison and additional four more years in house arrest as it judged that the additional probation period of the previous sentence had not been done.
Like other political trials, none of Mr. Oai’s relatives were allowed to enter the courtroom while foreign diplomatic corps were not allowed to send their representatives to observe the trial, which is said to be open for public. Many activists and Oai’s supporters were detained and beaten by security forces when they gathered near the court areas. Along with using jamming devices to block cellular service, police also used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) imported from the US for the Vietnam Coast Guard to disperse people who held banners calling for immediate and unconditional release of Oai. The devices worked extensively so one of them burned later, observers said.
Mr. Oai, a former prisoner of conscience, was arrested in early 2017 when he was fishing near his private house in Hoang Mai town.
Oai, who was imprisoned for four years between 2011 and 2015 on charge of subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code, got support from domestic and international community after his detention last year. After his arrest, the EU, the US and other countries and international human rights have condemned Vietnam’s move, urging the communist government to release him immediately and unconditionally.
The arrest and conviction of Oai is part of Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown on local activists.
Last year, Vietnam arrested over 40 activists and convicted 19 of them, mostly on serious charges in the national security provisions of the 1999 Penal Code such as subversion and anti-state propaganda. Among the convicted are prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and labor activist Tran Thi Nga.
In order to maintain the country under a one-party regime, the communist government has little tolerance to its critics.
Vietnam is imprisoning over 100 activists, according to Human Rights Watch while BPSOS, Defend the Defenders, and 13 other partners, in their Now! Campaign found Vietnam to be holding 165 prisoners of conscience as of the end of November 2017. The number did not include 14 activists jailed in December last year.
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January 11, 2018
Appeal of Human Rights Defender Nguyen Van Oai Set on Jan 15
by Nhan Quyen • Nguyen Van Oai
Right defender Nguyen Van Oai at trial on Sept 18, 2017
Defend the Defenders, January 11, 2018
The People’s Court in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An will hold an appeal hearing of human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai on January 15, according to the court’s notice to his lawyer Ha Huy Son.
Mr. Oai, who was arrested on January 19 last year and charged with “Resisting persons in the performance of their official duties” under Article 257 and “Failing to execute judgments” under Article 304 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code, was found guilty by the People’s Court in Hoang Mai town.
The district-level court held on September 18, 2017 sentenced Oai to five years in prison and additional four more years in house arrest as it judged that the additional probation period of the previous sentence had not been done.
Like other political trials, none of Mr. Oai’s relatives were allowed to enter the courtroom while foreign diplomatic corps were not allowed to send their representatives to observe the trial, which is said to be open for public. Many activists and Oai’s supporters were detained and beaten by security forces when they gathered near the court areas. Along with using jamming devices to block cellular service, police also used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) imported from the US for the Vietnam Coast Guard to disperse people who held banners calling for immediate and unconditional release of Oai. The devices worked extensively so one of them burned later, observers said.
Mr. Oai, a former prisoner of conscience, was arrested in early 2017 when he was fishing near his private house in Hoang Mai town.
Oai, who was imprisoned for four years between 2011 and 2015 on charge of subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code, got support from domestic and international community after his detention last year. After his arrest, the EU, the US and other countries and international human rights have condemned Vietnam’s move, urging the communist government to release him immediately and unconditionally.
The arrest and conviction of Oai is part of Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown on local activists.
Last year, Vietnam arrested over 40 activists and convicted 19 of them, mostly on serious charges in the national security provisions of the 1999 Penal Code such as subversion and anti-state propaganda. Among the convicted are prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and labor activist Tran Thi Nga.
In order to maintain the country under a one-party regime, the communist government has little tolerance to its critics.
Vietnam is imprisoning over 100 activists, according to Human Rights Watch while BPSOS, Defend the Defenders, and 13 other partners, in their Now! Campaign found Vietnam to be holding 165 prisoners of conscience as of the end of November 2017. The number did not include 14 activists jailed in December last year.