Prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai.
Defend the Defenders, January 15, 2018
On January 15, the People’s Court in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An rejected the appeal of human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai, upholding the sentence given by the People’s Court in Hoang Mai town on the trial on September 18 last year.
Mr. Oai, who served 4 years in jail in 2011-2015, was arrested on January 19, 2017 on allegation of “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. On the trial in mid September last year, the lower court gave him total five years in jail and additional four years under house arrest afterward.
Ha Huy Son, the lawyer of Mr. Oai in the trial and in the appeal hearing, affirmed that his client is innocent and both trial and appeal hearing are unfair.
On Monday, authorities in Nghe An deployed numerous police, plainclothes, soldiers and militia to block all the roads leading to the court areas, preventing activists and Oai’s relatives from gathering to support him. Police suppressed them, beating them and robbing their cellphones, and taking a number of his relatives and supporters in custody for hours.
Mr. Oai, a former prisoner of conscience, was re-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.
After his trial in September last year and one day prior to the appeal hearing, the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling Vietnam 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 at least 45 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 15 activists jailed in December last year.
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…
January 15, 2018
Vietnam Court Rejects Appeal of Human Rights Defender Nguyen Van Oai, Sending Him Back to Prison
by Nhan Quyen • Nguyen Van Oai
Prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai.
Defend the Defenders, January 15, 2018
On January 15, the People’s Court in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An rejected the appeal of human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai, upholding the sentence given by the People’s Court in Hoang Mai town on the trial on September 18 last year.
Mr. Oai, who served 4 years in jail in 2011-2015, was arrested on January 19, 2017 on allegation of “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. On the trial in mid September last year, the lower court gave him total five years in jail and additional four years under house arrest afterward.
Ha Huy Son, the lawyer of Mr. Oai in the trial and in the appeal hearing, affirmed that his client is innocent and both trial and appeal hearing are unfair.
On Monday, authorities in Nghe An deployed numerous police, plainclothes, soldiers and militia to block all the roads leading to the court areas, preventing activists and Oai’s relatives from gathering to support him. Police suppressed them, beating them and robbing their cellphones, and taking a number of his relatives and supporters in custody for hours.
Mr. Oai, a former prisoner of conscience, was re-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.
After his trial in September last year and one day prior to the appeal hearing, the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling Vietnam 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 at least 45 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 15 activists jailed in December last year.