Defend the Defenders | November 15, 2020
A few months ahead of the 13th National Conference of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, the security forces continue their crackdown on the local dissent, arresting Mr. Nguyen Van Lam (Facebooker Lâm Thời) and charged him with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
On November 6, Mr. Lam, 50, was arrested by authorities in the central province of Nghe An who accused him of posting anti-government statuses and video clips on his Facebook account. According to the province’s police, he will be held incommunicado for at least 4 months. He is facing imprisonment of between seven to 12 years in prison if he is convicted. He is among 29 activists and Facebookers who have been arrested so far this year. Among them, 14 were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and seven were alleged of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
Meanwhile, the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has issued a 12-page indictment in which it prosecutes three members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam- Dr. Pham Chi Dung, Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and younger editor Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Clause 2 of Article 117, with the highest punishment of 20 years in prison. The trio has been allowed to meet their defense lawyers for the first time since their detentions to prepare for their first-instance hearing which is expected to be held soon before the party’s 13th National Congress slated for January next year.
During their meetings with Saigon-based lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng, Mr. Dung and Mr. Thuy affirmed their innocence, saying their activities are online with Vietnam’s Constitution 2013 as well as the international human rights conventions the regime has signed.
On November 12, former prisoner of conscience Tran Huu Duc has arrived in Los Angeles and he will stay and live in exile in the US. He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” for distributing leaflets calling for multi-democracy and human rights protection. Later, he was sentenced to three years in prison. After being released in 2015, Mr. Duc has been under constant persecution of authorities in the central province of Nghe An as he continues his activism.
===== November 10 =====
One More Vietnamese Facebooker Arrested on Allegation of “Conducting Anti-state Propaganda”
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s communist regime has arrested another Facebooker and accused him of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code for his posts on the social network.
According to state-controlled media, police in the central province of Nghe An on November 6 arrested Mr. Nguyen Van Lam for his posts on his Facebook page named “Lâm Thời” with the content considered harmful for the regime.
Newspapers said that the province’s police have launched an investigation after receiving information from the province’s Department of Information and Communication which warned that the content of Facebooker Lâm Thời’s posts are defaming the regime and the local authorities as well as their officials and distort the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’s policies.
The police said they found 35 statuses of Facebooker Lâm Thời violating Vietnam’s laws. Of those, 3 are his live streams, 18 were produced by himself while 13 were shared from anti-government pages.
Mr. Lam, 50, will be held incommunicado for at least four months during the investigation period, and face imprisonment of between seven and 12 years in prison, or even up to 20 years, if is convicted.
Looking in his Facebook, Defend the Defenders found his posts cover a wide range of topics, from systemic corruption and widespread environmental pollutions to human rights abuse and China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). Lam was summoned to a police station in early December last year where he was requested to stop anti-regime posting, according to some newspapers.
He is among 29 activists and Facebookers who have been arrested so far this year for their peaceful activities as the ruling party is intensifying its crackdown on the local dissent prior to the party’s 13th National Congress slated for January next year. Among them, 14 were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and seven were alleged of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
Vietnam’s communist regime often uses articles in the National Security provisions of the Criminal Code to silence the local political dissidents and social activists who bravely exercise their basic rights including the right to freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s 2013 Constitution and the international treaties in which Vietnam is a signatory party.
Vietnam is among the largest prisons of prisoners of conscience in Southeast Asia. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding 260 prisoners of conscience in hard living conditions.
Vietnam is placed at 175th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), imprisoning dozens of journalists and bloggers, including prominent activists Pham Doan Trang and Pham Chi Dung.
===== November 11 =====
HCM City Authorities Prosecute Three Members of Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, Lengthy Imprisonments Expected
Defend the Defenders: The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has decided to prosecute three members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) named President Dr. Pham Chi Dung, Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
According to their lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng, the trio will be tried per Clause 2 of the article with potential imprisonment of between ten years and 20 years if they are convicted.
The city’s People’s Procuracy has issued a 12-page indictment, attorney Mieng said after the first meeting with the defendants since Dr. Dung’s arrest in November last year and the two others’ detention in May and June this year.
Lawyer Mieng said that with his presence, Dr. Dung affirmed that he is innocent and has not violated Vietnam’s law.
Last month, the city’s Police Department concluded the investigation against the trio and proposed to prosecute the trio after holding them between five months and one year without allowing them to meet with their lawyers nor their relatives.
Dr. Dung, who was among 100 Information Heroes in 2014 of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is a former security officer working for HCM City’s Party Committee. He is a well-known writer for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) as well as other independent websites. He is among co-founders of IJAVN and held its president post since its establishment in 2014 until his arrest in early November last year. He was blocked from going to Geneva to attend Vietnam’s UPR in 2014 and his detention was made after he submitted a letter to the EU Parliament in which he urged the EU legislators not to vote for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement due to Hanoi’s increasing human rights abuse.
Meanwhile, Mr. Thuy, born in 1952. He involved in activism by participating in a series of peaceful demonstrations in Hanoi in 2011 against China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He was invited to participate in the freedom of press hearing held by the US Congress in Washington DC in 2013. He was also among IJAVN’s co-founders and became its vice president from 2014 until his arrest in May this year. Along with many articles posted on the IJAVN’s website vietnamthoibao.org, he is a contributor to RFA.
Mr. Tuan, born in 1989, has numerous articles about human rights and socio-economic issues of Vietnam.
In order to maintain Vietnam under a one-party regime, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is requesting the security forces not to allow opposition groups and independent civil society organizations. It strictly controls media and local dissidents and activists can express their opinions on social networks such as Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter.
Vietnam is placed at 175th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The country is among the largest prisons of prisoners of conscience in Southeast Asia. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding 260 prisoners of conscience in hard living conditions.
===== November 12 =====
Former Prisoner of Conscience Tran Huu Duc Arrives to US for Political Asylum
Defend the Defenders: According to the Voice of America Radio, former prisoner of conscience Tran Huu Duc has arrived in Los Angeles and he will stay and live in exile in the US.
Mr. Duc was arrested in 2011 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” for distributing leaflets calling for multi-democracy and human rights protection. Later, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
After being released in 2015, Mr. Duc has been under constant persecution of authorities in the central province of Nghe An as he continues his activism.
In early December 2015, Mr. Huu assisted prominent human rights defender Nguyen Van Dai in organizing a training course on human rights in Nghe An. One week later, Mr. Dai was arrested while Duc was interrogated many times by the local police.
According to local activists, Mr. Duc has participated in numerous activities for charity and environmental protection in Vinh City.
=======================
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November 16, 2020
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly Report for November 9-15, 2020: One More Facebooker Arrested, Charged with “Conducting Anti-state Propaganda”
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | November 15, 2020
A few months ahead of the 13th National Conference of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, the security forces continue their crackdown on the local dissent, arresting Mr. Nguyen Van Lam (Facebooker Lâm Thời) and charged him with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
On November 6, Mr. Lam, 50, was arrested by authorities in the central province of Nghe An who accused him of posting anti-government statuses and video clips on his Facebook account. According to the province’s police, he will be held incommunicado for at least 4 months. He is facing imprisonment of between seven to 12 years in prison if he is convicted. He is among 29 activists and Facebookers who have been arrested so far this year. Among them, 14 were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and seven were alleged of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
Meanwhile, the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has issued a 12-page indictment in which it prosecutes three members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam- Dr. Pham Chi Dung, Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and younger editor Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Clause 2 of Article 117, with the highest punishment of 20 years in prison. The trio has been allowed to meet their defense lawyers for the first time since their detentions to prepare for their first-instance hearing which is expected to be held soon before the party’s 13th National Congress slated for January next year.
During their meetings with Saigon-based lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng, Mr. Dung and Mr. Thuy affirmed their innocence, saying their activities are online with Vietnam’s Constitution 2013 as well as the international human rights conventions the regime has signed.
On November 12, former prisoner of conscience Tran Huu Duc has arrived in Los Angeles and he will stay and live in exile in the US. He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” for distributing leaflets calling for multi-democracy and human rights protection. Later, he was sentenced to three years in prison. After being released in 2015, Mr. Duc has been under constant persecution of authorities in the central province of Nghe An as he continues his activism.
===== November 10 =====
One More Vietnamese Facebooker Arrested on Allegation of “Conducting Anti-state Propaganda”
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s communist regime has arrested another Facebooker and accused him of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code for his posts on the social network.
According to state-controlled media, police in the central province of Nghe An on November 6 arrested Mr. Nguyen Van Lam for his posts on his Facebook page named “Lâm Thời” with the content considered harmful for the regime.
Newspapers said that the province’s police have launched an investigation after receiving information from the province’s Department of Information and Communication which warned that the content of Facebooker Lâm Thời’s posts are defaming the regime and the local authorities as well as their officials and distort the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’s policies.
The police said they found 35 statuses of Facebooker Lâm Thời violating Vietnam’s laws. Of those, 3 are his live streams, 18 were produced by himself while 13 were shared from anti-government pages.
Mr. Lam, 50, will be held incommunicado for at least four months during the investigation period, and face imprisonment of between seven and 12 years in prison, or even up to 20 years, if is convicted.
Looking in his Facebook, Defend the Defenders found his posts cover a wide range of topics, from systemic corruption and widespread environmental pollutions to human rights abuse and China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). Lam was summoned to a police station in early December last year where he was requested to stop anti-regime posting, according to some newspapers.
He is among 29 activists and Facebookers who have been arrested so far this year for their peaceful activities as the ruling party is intensifying its crackdown on the local dissent prior to the party’s 13th National Congress slated for January next year. Among them, 14 were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and seven were alleged of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
Vietnam’s communist regime often uses articles in the National Security provisions of the Criminal Code to silence the local political dissidents and social activists who bravely exercise their basic rights including the right to freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s 2013 Constitution and the international treaties in which Vietnam is a signatory party.
Vietnam is among the largest prisons of prisoners of conscience in Southeast Asia. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding 260 prisoners of conscience in hard living conditions.
Vietnam is placed at 175th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), imprisoning dozens of journalists and bloggers, including prominent activists Pham Doan Trang and Pham Chi Dung.
===== November 11 =====
HCM City Authorities Prosecute Three Members of Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, Lengthy Imprisonments Expected
Defend the Defenders: The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has decided to prosecute three members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) named President Dr. Pham Chi Dung, Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
According to their lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng, the trio will be tried per Clause 2 of the article with potential imprisonment of between ten years and 20 years if they are convicted.
The city’s People’s Procuracy has issued a 12-page indictment, attorney Mieng said after the first meeting with the defendants since Dr. Dung’s arrest in November last year and the two others’ detention in May and June this year.
Lawyer Mieng said that with his presence, Dr. Dung affirmed that he is innocent and has not violated Vietnam’s law.
Last month, the city’s Police Department concluded the investigation against the trio and proposed to prosecute the trio after holding them between five months and one year without allowing them to meet with their lawyers nor their relatives.
Dr. Dung, who was among 100 Information Heroes in 2014 of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is a former security officer working for HCM City’s Party Committee. He is a well-known writer for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) as well as other independent websites. He is among co-founders of IJAVN and held its president post since its establishment in 2014 until his arrest in early November last year. He was blocked from going to Geneva to attend Vietnam’s UPR in 2014 and his detention was made after he submitted a letter to the EU Parliament in which he urged the EU legislators not to vote for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement due to Hanoi’s increasing human rights abuse.
Meanwhile, Mr. Thuy, born in 1952. He involved in activism by participating in a series of peaceful demonstrations in Hanoi in 2011 against China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He was invited to participate in the freedom of press hearing held by the US Congress in Washington DC in 2013. He was also among IJAVN’s co-founders and became its vice president from 2014 until his arrest in May this year. Along with many articles posted on the IJAVN’s website vietnamthoibao.org, he is a contributor to RFA.
Mr. Tuan, born in 1989, has numerous articles about human rights and socio-economic issues of Vietnam.
In order to maintain Vietnam under a one-party regime, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is requesting the security forces not to allow opposition groups and independent civil society organizations. It strictly controls media and local dissidents and activists can express their opinions on social networks such as Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter.
Vietnam is placed at 175th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The country is among the largest prisons of prisoners of conscience in Southeast Asia. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding 260 prisoners of conscience in hard living conditions.
===== November 12 =====
Former Prisoner of Conscience Tran Huu Duc Arrives to US for Political Asylum
Defend the Defenders: According to the Voice of America Radio, former prisoner of conscience Tran Huu Duc has arrived in Los Angeles and he will stay and live in exile in the US.
Mr. Duc was arrested in 2011 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” for distributing leaflets calling for multi-democracy and human rights protection. Later, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
After being released in 2015, Mr. Duc has been under constant persecution of authorities in the central province of Nghe An as he continues his activism.
In early December 2015, Mr. Huu assisted prominent human rights defender Nguyen Van Dai in organizing a training course on human rights in Nghe An. One week later, Mr. Dai was arrested while Duc was interrogated many times by the local police.
According to local activists, Mr. Duc has participated in numerous activities for charity and environmental protection in Vinh City.
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