Mr. Nguyen Van Tuc who was sentenced to 13 years in jail and 5 years under house arrest on April 10, 2018
Defend the Defenders, April 10, 2018
On April 10, the People’s Court of Vietnam’s northern province of Thai Binh found former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Tuc, member of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy, guilty of “”carrying out attempts to overthrow the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
As a result, Mr. Tuc was sentenced to 13 years in prison and five years under house arrest after completing the imprisonment sentence.
According to his daughter who was in the courtroom, Mr. Tuc couldn’t stand up during trial. The doctor checked his blood pressure before the trial and the doctor informed the court that it was quite high (190). The defendant also felt his heart muscles cramping up but the court still went on.
Mr. Tuc also has very bad hemorrhoids and he had a lot of rectal bleeding during the trial, his daughter namely Nguyen Thi Mai said.
Like other political cases, no activists were allowed to enter the courroom to observe the trial. Authorities in Thai Binh denied the request of Mr. Tuc’s mother to be present in his hearing.
Police were reportedly deployed to block all the roads leading to the court areas to prevent his relatives and supporters to gather near the areas.
Mr. Tuc, who was arrested on September 1 last year on charge of subversion, had been kept incommunicado detention since being caught until recently when he was permitted to meet with his lawyer to prepare for his defense, the family said.
Mr. Tuc is the 9th member of the unregistered Brotherhood for Democracy being arrested last year as Vietnam’s regime considers the online pro-democracy group as a potential threat for its political monopoly in the Southeast Asian nation. He has been the 11th political dissident being jailed with controversial charges in national security provisions of the Penal Code so far this year.
Last week, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced six members of the online pro-democracy groups namely prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Van Dai, engineer Pham Van Troi, veteran journalist and labor activist Truong Minh Duc, Protestant pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, enterprener Nguyen Bac Truyen, English teacher and translator Le Thu Ha with a total imprisonment of 66 years and 17 years of probation.
Mr. Tuc, born in 1964, was arrested for the first time in September 2008 for spreading leaflets protesting China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty and calling for multi-party democracy. He was charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code. Later, he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and three years under house arrest.
After being released in 2012, he continued his activities to promote human rights and work for multi-party democracy. He joined Brotherhood for Democracy which strives to “fight to protect human rights recognized by the Vietnamese Constitution and international conventions” and “campaign to build a progressive, democratic, equal and civilized society in Vietnam.”
The arrests and convictions of seven members of the Brotherhood for Democracy are part of the ongoing crackdown of Vietnam’s communist regime on local activists which started in late 2015 and became the peak last year with detention of at least 45 activists.
Vietnam has arrested three other members of the organization namely Nguyen Trung Truc, Tran Thi Xuan and Vu Van Hung. The first two were charged with subversion while the third, also former prisoner of conscience, was charged with “inflicting injuries” under Article 134 of the 2015 Penal Code. Their first-instance hearings are expected to be held soon.
Vietnam may arrest other members of the organization in coming months, observers said, adding the Brotherhood for Democracy has around 80 members.
Since the begining of 2017, Vietnam has convicted around 30 activists and sentenced them to lengthy imprisonments of between three and 16 years. Among the jailed activists are prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and land right activist Tran Thi Nga, both have children at school age.
It is worth noting that Vietnam still uses controversial articles such 79 and 88 of the 1999 Penal Code to silence local dissent although the country’s 2015 Penal Code became effective from January 1 this year.
The first-instance hearing of Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and president of unsanctioned Vietnam Republican Party, is set on April 12. He was arrested in September last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code.
The EU and many foreign governments such as the US and Germany and a number of international NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Vietnam for arrests and convictions of local activists, and demanded Hanoi to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding nearly 100 prisoners of conscience while Hanoi always denies of imprisoning prisoners of conscience but only law violators.
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April 10, 2018
7th Member of Brotherhood for Democracy Convicted of Subversion, Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison
by Nhan Quyen • Nguyen Van Tuc
Mr. Nguyen Van Tuc who was sentenced to 13 years in jail and 5 years under house arrest on April 10, 2018
Defend the Defenders, April 10, 2018
On April 10, the People’s Court of Vietnam’s northern province of Thai Binh found former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Tuc, member of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy, guilty of “”carrying out attempts to overthrow the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
As a result, Mr. Tuc was sentenced to 13 years in prison and five years under house arrest after completing the imprisonment sentence.
According to his daughter who was in the courtroom, Mr. Tuc couldn’t stand up during trial. The doctor checked his blood pressure before the trial and the doctor informed the court that it was quite high (190). The defendant also felt his heart muscles cramping up but the court still went on.
Mr. Tuc also has very bad hemorrhoids and he had a lot of rectal bleeding during the trial, his daughter namely Nguyen Thi Mai said.
Like other political cases, no activists were allowed to enter the courroom to observe the trial. Authorities in Thai Binh denied the request of Mr. Tuc’s mother to be present in his hearing.
Police were reportedly deployed to block all the roads leading to the court areas to prevent his relatives and supporters to gather near the areas.
Mr. Tuc, who was arrested on September 1 last year on charge of subversion, had been kept incommunicado detention since being caught until recently when he was permitted to meet with his lawyer to prepare for his defense, the family said.
Mr. Tuc is the 9th member of the unregistered Brotherhood for Democracy being arrested last year as Vietnam’s regime considers the online pro-democracy group as a potential threat for its political monopoly in the Southeast Asian nation. He has been the 11th political dissident being jailed with controversial charges in national security provisions of the Penal Code so far this year.
Last week, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced six members of the online pro-democracy groups namely prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Van Dai, engineer Pham Van Troi, veteran journalist and labor activist Truong Minh Duc, Protestant pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, enterprener Nguyen Bac Truyen, English teacher and translator Le Thu Ha with a total imprisonment of 66 years and 17 years of probation.
Mr. Tuc, born in 1964, was arrested for the first time in September 2008 for spreading leaflets protesting China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty and calling for multi-party democracy. He was charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code. Later, he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and three years under house arrest.
After being released in 2012, he continued his activities to promote human rights and work for multi-party democracy. He joined Brotherhood for Democracy which strives to “fight to protect human rights recognized by the Vietnamese Constitution and international conventions” and “campaign to build a progressive, democratic, equal and civilized society in Vietnam.”
The arrests and convictions of seven members of the Brotherhood for Democracy are part of the ongoing crackdown of Vietnam’s communist regime on local activists which started in late 2015 and became the peak last year with detention of at least 45 activists.
Vietnam has arrested three other members of the organization namely Nguyen Trung Truc, Tran Thi Xuan and Vu Van Hung. The first two were charged with subversion while the third, also former prisoner of conscience, was charged with “inflicting injuries” under Article 134 of the 2015 Penal Code. Their first-instance hearings are expected to be held soon.
Vietnam may arrest other members of the organization in coming months, observers said, adding the Brotherhood for Democracy has around 80 members.
Since the begining of 2017, Vietnam has convicted around 30 activists and sentenced them to lengthy imprisonments of between three and 16 years. Among the jailed activists are prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and land right activist Tran Thi Nga, both have children at school age.
It is worth noting that Vietnam still uses controversial articles such 79 and 88 of the 1999 Penal Code to silence local dissent although the country’s 2015 Penal Code became effective from January 1 this year.
The first-instance hearing of Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and president of unsanctioned Vietnam Republican Party, is set on April 12. He was arrested in September last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code.
The EU and many foreign governments such as the US and Germany and a number of international NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Vietnam for arrests and convictions of local activists, and demanded Hanoi to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding nearly 100 prisoners of conscience while Hanoi always denies of imprisoning prisoners of conscience but only law violators.