Vietnam’s security forces continue political suppression which started in late 2015, arresting Ho Chi Minh City-based human rights activist and civil society campaigner Tran Van Bang (aka Tran Bang) on March 1 and charged him with “conducting anti-state propanda” under Article 117 with potential imprisonment of between seven and 12 years, even 20 years in prison.
According to local activists, the HCM City’s police broke into his private residence in the Tuesday’s morning when he was alone at home. The state-controlled media reported that police also conducted a house search and confiscated a number of documents with “anti-state” content.
Citing information from the city’s Police Department, the state-controlled newspapers reported that the local police probed the case on November 24 last year.
Like other political cases, Mr. Bang, 61, likely will be held incommunicado for at least four months during the investigation period.
Before being arrested, Mr. Bang was summoned by the local police twice and he warned his friends that he would be arrested soon.
In late 2021, he announced to close his Facebook page Tran Bang to focus on his health. He reportedly has a number of health issues in recent years, including eye vision but has not been treated properly due to Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation due to the deadly outbreak.
Mr. Bang, an engineer in construction, has been involved in social affairs more than a decade ago. He is among well-known government critics, and often gives interviews to foreign media such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and BBC.
He has actively participated in peaceful demonstrations in HCM City and Hanoi since 2011 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He was detained many times by security force, and in a protest in 2015, he was brutally beaten by security forces.
Bang has been the second activist being detained and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” since the beginning of 2022. On January 10, blogger Le Manh Ha got arrested for his posts on Facebook on a number of issues, including systemic corruption and land grabbing across the country.
According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam is holding at least 254 prisoners of conscience, including 37 in pre-trial detention. Hanoi always denies holding prisoners of conscience but only law violators. Among them are 12 activists in pre-trial detention and 50 convicted activists alleged of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code (1999) or Article 117 of the Criminal Code (2015), the controversial accusation the international community has urged Vietnam’s authoritarian regime to remove from the country’s law because it has been used for decades to silence peaceful government critics.
Meanwhile, the People’s Court of Hanoi has decided to postpone the trial against local blogger Le Van Dung (aka Le Dung Vova) which was scheduled on March 11. The reason for the cancellation is that the judge of the hearing has been infected with Covid-19. New schedule for the trial has not been defined.
Mr. Dung was arrested on June 30 last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015. However, after investigation, the Hanoi Police Department has changed the accusation, changing the allegation to “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code 1999 which was replaced by the Criminal Code in 2018. Mr. Dung, 52, will face imprisonment of between three and 12 years in prison.
ON February 28, the Higher People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the 11-year imprisonment sentence for Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan, a member of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN). The appeal hearing lasted a few hours and his relatives were not allowed to enter the courtroom. In the first-instance hearing on January 15 last year, Mr. Tuan, together with IJAVN’s President Pham Chi Dung and Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, was convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for their works related to the organization and its website which is posting uncensored articles covering Vietnam’s socio-economic issues from different independent writers. Mr. Dung was sentenced to 15 years in prison while both Tuan and Thuy were given 11 years of imprisonment. Mr. Dung refused to appeal the sentence as he thinks there is no independent court in Vietnam while Mr. Thuy was denied to submit his appeal.
On Saturday (March 5), a number of Hanoi-based activists were reportedly placed de facto under house arrest as the local authorities sent plainclothes agents to station near their private residence. It was likely that the local authorities prevented them from going out to participate in a fair event organized by the Ukraine Embassy in Vietnam in its headquarters in the Hanoi’s center. Vietnam’s authoritarian regime is among few countries abstained in the UN vote last week to condemn Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
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March 6, 2022
Vietnam Defend the Defenders’ Weekly Report for February 28-March 6, 2022: Activist Tran Van Bang Arrested on “Conducting Anti-state Propaganda” Allegation
by Defend the Defenders • [Human Rights]
Defend the Defenders | March 6, 2022
Vietnam’s security forces continue political suppression which started in late 2015, arresting Ho Chi Minh City-based human rights activist and civil society campaigner Tran Van Bang (aka Tran Bang) on March 1 and charged him with “conducting anti-state propanda” under Article 117 with potential imprisonment of between seven and 12 years, even 20 years in prison.
According to local activists, the HCM City’s police broke into his private residence in the Tuesday’s morning when he was alone at home. The state-controlled media reported that police also conducted a house search and confiscated a number of documents with “anti-state” content.
Citing information from the city’s Police Department, the state-controlled newspapers reported that the local police probed the case on November 24 last year.
Like other political cases, Mr. Bang, 61, likely will be held incommunicado for at least four months during the investigation period.
Before being arrested, Mr. Bang was summoned by the local police twice and he warned his friends that he would be arrested soon.
In late 2021, he announced to close his Facebook page Tran Bang to focus on his health. He reportedly has a number of health issues in recent years, including eye vision but has not been treated properly due to Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation due to the deadly outbreak.
Mr. Bang, an engineer in construction, has been involved in social affairs more than a decade ago. He is among well-known government critics, and often gives interviews to foreign media such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and BBC.
He has actively participated in peaceful demonstrations in HCM City and Hanoi since 2011 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He was detained many times by security force, and in a protest in 2015, he was brutally beaten by security forces.
Bang has been the second activist being detained and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” since the beginning of 2022. On January 10, blogger Le Manh Ha got arrested for his posts on Facebook on a number of issues, including systemic corruption and land grabbing across the country.
According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam is holding at least 254 prisoners of conscience, including 37 in pre-trial detention. Hanoi always denies holding prisoners of conscience but only law violators. Among them are 12 activists in pre-trial detention and 50 convicted activists alleged of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code (1999) or Article 117 of the Criminal Code (2015), the controversial accusation the international community has urged Vietnam’s authoritarian regime to remove from the country’s law because it has been used for decades to silence peaceful government critics.
Meanwhile, the People’s Court of Hanoi has decided to postpone the trial against local blogger Le Van Dung (aka Le Dung Vova) which was scheduled on March 11. The reason for the cancellation is that the judge of the hearing has been infected with Covid-19. New schedule for the trial has not been defined.
Mr. Dung was arrested on June 30 last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015. However, after investigation, the Hanoi Police Department has changed the accusation, changing the allegation to “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code 1999 which was replaced by the Criminal Code in 2018. Mr. Dung, 52, will face imprisonment of between three and 12 years in prison.
ON February 28, the Higher People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the 11-year imprisonment sentence for Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan, a member of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN). The appeal hearing lasted a few hours and his relatives were not allowed to enter the courtroom. In the first-instance hearing on January 15 last year, Mr. Tuan, together with IJAVN’s President Pham Chi Dung and Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, was convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for their works related to the organization and its website which is posting uncensored articles covering Vietnam’s socio-economic issues from different independent writers. Mr. Dung was sentenced to 15 years in prison while both Tuan and Thuy were given 11 years of imprisonment. Mr. Dung refused to appeal the sentence as he thinks there is no independent court in Vietnam while Mr. Thuy was denied to submit his appeal.
On Saturday (March 5), a number of Hanoi-based activists were reportedly placed de facto under house arrest as the local authorities sent plainclothes agents to station near their private residence. It was likely that the local authorities prevented them from going out to participate in a fair event organized by the Ukraine Embassy in Vietnam in its headquarters in the Hanoi’s center. Vietnam’s authoritarian regime is among few countries abstained in the UN vote last week to condemn Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
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