Defend the Defenders, Press Release, April 3, 2022
For immediate release
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of March 31, 2022, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding at least 253 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number does not include Le Anh Hung (m) who are forcibly committed in a mental hospital without judicial process. The number also does not include 15 land petitioners from Dong Tam commune who were arrested on January 9 last year during the police raid in the locality and convicted of “resisting on-duty state officials” at the first-instance hearing on September 7-14, 2020 but given probation sentences.
As many as 24 of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women.
In total, 180 people, or 71.15% of the list, are from the Kinh ethnic majority. The second-largest ethnic grouping on the list is Montagnards, a loose set of religious and ethnic minorities who live in the mountains of the Central Highlands. They account for 63 people or 25% of those on the list. There are six prisoners of conscience from Hmong ethnic minority and two on the list are Khmer Krom.
Bloggers, lawyers, unionists, land rights activists, political dissidents, and followers of non-registered minority religions have been arrested and detained for peacefully exercising their internationally and constitutionally protected rights, principally the right to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief. The list does not include individuals who have engaged in or advocated violence.
Vietnam still holds 36 activists in pre-trial detention, 32 of them were arrested in 2018-2021 and the remaining four were arrested in January-March this year. Among them is well-known human rights defender Nguyen Thuy Hanh (f) who was arrested in April last year on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code, and face imprisonment of between seven and 20 years in prison if convicted.
The above includes 217 who have been convicted – mostly of political crimes under Articles 79, 87 and 88 of the1999 Penal Code or Article 109, 117, and 331 in the 2015 Criminal Code.
The total number includes:
– 46 activists convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 63 activists convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with anti-state propaganda (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 56 people from ethnic minorities were convicted of undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or 116 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 29 activists were convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 8 activists were convicted of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;
– 25 individuals were convicted of “disrupting public orders” (under Article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 318 of the 2015 Criminal Code) for their peaceful activities. As many as 16 of them were imprisoned for participating or being suspected of planning to participate in the mass demonstrations in mid-June 2018 and their aftermath;
– Three activists Chau Van Kham (male, Vietnamese Australian), Nguyen Van Vien (m), and Tran Van Quyen (m) were convicted of “terrorism” under Article 113 of the 2015 Criminal Code.
– The charges for 13 individuals are unknown, including three Montagnards followers of the Ha Mon sect arrested in March 2020.
Background
One year after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam held its 13th National Congress to elect its leadership for the next five years as well as carried out formal elections for the country’s highest legislative body National Asssembly and local People’s Councils, the communist regime continues tightening control over the nation, intensifying its crackdown on local political dissidents, government critics, social activists, and human rights defenders.
As the international community focuses on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the ongoing invasion of Russia in Ukraine, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime feels free to suppress local activists, applying many measures to limit freedom of the people.
Along with suppressing political dissidents, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime has also launched crackdown on registered civil groups and targeted leading figures of some organizations who proved to be active and may threaten the regime’s political monopoly. The victims of the crackdown include independent journalist Mai Phan Loi and legal expert Dang Dinh Bach as well as world-recognized environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh who is Vietnam’s first recipient of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize.
Arrest in January-March, 2022
Between January 1 and March 31, Vietnam arrested four activists. Three of them named Tran Van Bang, Nguyen Duc Hung and Le Manh Ha were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 while prominent environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh was alleged of “tax evasion.” The arrest of Mrs. Khanh, the leader of the Green Innovation and Development Center (GreenID), was unexpected for many people, especially those working in registered civil organizations.
Convictions in January-March
In the first three months of this year, Vietnam’s communist regime convicted six activists and sentenced them to a combined total 21.5 years in prison and five years of probation.
On March 23, the People’s Court of Hanoi convicted blogger Le Van Dung (aka Le Dung Vova) of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced him to five years in prison and five years of probation. Two months earlier, Nguyen Bao Tien, a distributor of books printed by the Liberal Publishing House, was also found guilty of the same charge and sentenced to five years and six months in prison.
In January, the People’s Court of Hanoi carried out two separate trials to try two civil activists Mai Phan Loi and Dang Dinh Bach on the allegation of “tax evasion” in a bid to silence their activities which aim to promote civil rights education. The two activists were convicted and sentenced to three years and five years in prison, respectively.
Meanwhile, former police officer and anti-corruption activist Le Chi Thanh was convicted of “resisting on-duty state officials” and sentenced to two years in prison.
In all these trials, the judges did not respect defense statements of the defendants and their lawyers, imposing heavy sentences after short hearings which did not meet international standards for a fair trial. Relatives of the defendants were not permitted to enter the courtrooms although these hearings were said to be open for the public.
On March 24, the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi rejected the appeal of human rights defender and democracy campaigner Do Nam Trung, upholding his ten-year imprisonment given by the People’s Court of Nam Dinh province in the first-instance hearing in late 2021. Mr. Trung was arrested in July last year on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code for his online postings which aim to promote multi-party democracy, report human rights violations as well as speak out about systemic corruption among state officials and agencies.
Mistreatment in prison
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security continues its policy to keep prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience, under hard living conditions in a bid to punish them for their non-violent activities but harmful for the communist regime and break their mental strength. Along with sending prisoners of conscience to prisons far from their families, it allows authorities in the prisons and the temporary detention centers to apply other psychological measures to make the life of jailed activists harder, such as denying them their rights to regular meetings with their families and receiving additional food and medicines from their relatives, placing them in solitary cells or isolated areas, or forcing them to work hard without proper protective equipment. It also puts added psychological and financial trauma on the family members.
After refusing their family to meet with prisoner of conscience Can Thi Theu (f) and her two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu since their arrests in June 2021, Vietnam’s authorities allowed them to make calls or face-to-face meetings with their relatives. Mrs. Theu said she was held in a cell together with HIV-infected inmates in a closed cell without ventilator while her two sons reported that they were brutally tortured by police officers during pre-trial detention.
Due to inhumane treatment in prison, many prisoners of conscience have deteriorating health. Mr. Phan Thanh Y, who was serving his 12-year imprisonment in Xuyen Moc Prison camp in Vung Tau, reportedly died from severe diseases due to lack of proper treatment.
Many former prisoners of conscience reported that most prisoners of conscience from ethnic minorities have no family visits and their lives in prisons are very hard since they rely on prison’s supply only.
Release from prison in January-March
In January-March, three prisoners of conscience named Vo Thuong Trung, Tran Thanh Phuong, and Nguyen Van Oai completed their sentences and were released. However, they are still under probation and closely under police surveillance. Mr. Phuong is forced not to stay with his family but in a place far from the location where his wife and children reside.
Defend the Defenders is concerned that authorities in Hanoi are still keeping blogger Le Anh Hung (m) in a local mental facility after investigating him on the respective allegations of “abusing democratic freedom” without any judicial process. The activist was subjected to forced medication, which can constitute torture under international law.
=============
The term “prisoner of conscience” (POC) was coined by Peter Benenson in the 1960s. It refers to any individual “imprisoned for his/her political, religious or conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or another status who have not used violence or advocated violence or hatred.”
Defend the Defenders is Vietnam’s independent non-profit organization working to promote human and civil rights in the Southeast Asian nation. It has a network of dozens of human rights defenders across the nation who report human rights abuse in their areas.
Appendix 1: List of arrested activists in January-March 2022
No.
Name
DOB
Residence
Day of arrest
Charge (s)
Profession
1
Lê Mạnh Hà
1970
Tuyên Quang
10-Jan-22
117
Nhà báo
2
Nguỵ Thị Khanh
Hanoi
13-Jan-22
200
Facebooker
3
Trần Văn Bang
1961
HCMC
1-Mar-22
117
Facebooker
4
Nguyen Duc Hung
Ha Tinh
6-Jan-22
117
Facebooker
Appendix 2: List of activists convicted in January-March 2022
No.
Name
DOB
Residence
Day of arrest
Charge (s)
Trial date
Sencence (years)
Jail
Probation
1
Lê Chí Thành
330
5-Jan-21
11
3
2
Nguyễn Bảo Tiên
1986
Phu Yen
5-May-21
117
5-Jan-21
11
3
3
Le Van Dung
1970
Hanoi
30-Jan-21
88
5-Jan-21
15
3
4
Dang Dinh Bach
1976
Hanoi
June 30, 1021
200
7-Jan-21
1
5
Mai Phan Lợi
1971
Hanoi
2-Jul-21
200
20-Jan-21
7
6
Lê Minh Tài
1984
Cà Mau
331
30-Mar-21
9
3
Appendix 3: List of Prisoners of Conscience Released in January-March 2022
No.
Name
DOB
Day of arrest
Charge(s)
Sentence (years)
Day of Release
1
Võ Thường Trung
1977
25/4/2019
118
3 năm
Sep-20
2
Trần Thanh Phương
1975
O2/9/2018
118
3.5 năm
Feb 4: 7-month sentence reduction
3
Nguyễn Văn Oai
1981
19/1/2017
257, 304
5 năm
N/A, expected on Feb 17
4
Võ Thường Trung
1977
25/4/2019
118
3 năm
9-Mar-21
Appendix 4: List of Prisoners of Conscience as of March 31, 2022
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April 5, 2022
Defend the Defenders’ Latest Statistics: Vietnam Holds 253 Prisoners of Conscience as of March 31, 2022
by Defend the Defenders • [Human Rights]
Defend the Defenders, Press Release, April 3, 2022
For immediate release
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of March 31, 2022, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding at least 253 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number does not include Le Anh Hung (m) who are forcibly committed in a mental hospital without judicial process. The number also does not include 15 land petitioners from Dong Tam commune who were arrested on January 9 last year during the police raid in the locality and convicted of “resisting on-duty state officials” at the first-instance hearing on September 7-14, 2020 but given probation sentences.
As many as 24 of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women.
In total, 180 people, or 71.15% of the list, are from the Kinh ethnic majority. The second-largest ethnic grouping on the list is Montagnards, a loose set of religious and ethnic minorities who live in the mountains of the Central Highlands. They account for 63 people or 25% of those on the list. There are six prisoners of conscience from Hmong ethnic minority and two on the list are Khmer Krom.
Bloggers, lawyers, unionists, land rights activists, political dissidents, and followers of non-registered minority religions have been arrested and detained for peacefully exercising their internationally and constitutionally protected rights, principally the right to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief. The list does not include individuals who have engaged in or advocated violence.
Vietnam still holds 36 activists in pre-trial detention, 32 of them were arrested in 2018-2021 and the remaining four were arrested in January-March this year. Among them is well-known human rights defender Nguyen Thuy Hanh (f) who was arrested in April last year on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code, and face imprisonment of between seven and 20 years in prison if convicted.
The above includes 217 who have been convicted – mostly of political crimes under Articles 79, 87 and 88 of the1999 Penal Code or Article 109, 117, and 331 in the 2015 Criminal Code.
The total number includes:
– 46 activists convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 63 activists convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with anti-state propaganda (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 56 people from ethnic minorities were convicted of undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or 116 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 29 activists were convicted of or held in pre-trial detention after being charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 8 activists were convicted of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;
– 25 individuals were convicted of “disrupting public orders” (under Article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 318 of the 2015 Criminal Code) for their peaceful activities. As many as 16 of them were imprisoned for participating or being suspected of planning to participate in the mass demonstrations in mid-June 2018 and their aftermath;
– Three activists Chau Van Kham (male, Vietnamese Australian), Nguyen Van Vien (m), and Tran Van Quyen (m) were convicted of “terrorism” under Article 113 of the 2015 Criminal Code.
– The charges for 13 individuals are unknown, including three Montagnards followers of the Ha Mon sect arrested in March 2020.
Background
One year after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam held its 13th National Congress to elect its leadership for the next five years as well as carried out formal elections for the country’s highest legislative body National Asssembly and local People’s Councils, the communist regime continues tightening control over the nation, intensifying its crackdown on local political dissidents, government critics, social activists, and human rights defenders.
As the international community focuses on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the ongoing invasion of Russia in Ukraine, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime feels free to suppress local activists, applying many measures to limit freedom of the people.
Along with suppressing political dissidents, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime has also launched crackdown on registered civil groups and targeted leading figures of some organizations who proved to be active and may threaten the regime’s political monopoly. The victims of the crackdown include independent journalist Mai Phan Loi and legal expert Dang Dinh Bach as well as world-recognized environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh who is Vietnam’s first recipient of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize.
Arrest in January-March, 2022
Between January 1 and March 31, Vietnam arrested four activists. Three of them named Tran Van Bang, Nguyen Duc Hung and Le Manh Ha were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 while prominent environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh was alleged of “tax evasion.” The arrest of Mrs. Khanh, the leader of the Green Innovation and Development Center (GreenID), was unexpected for many people, especially those working in registered civil organizations.
Convictions in January-March
In the first three months of this year, Vietnam’s communist regime convicted six activists and sentenced them to a combined total 21.5 years in prison and five years of probation.
On March 23, the People’s Court of Hanoi convicted blogger Le Van Dung (aka Le Dung Vova) of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced him to five years in prison and five years of probation. Two months earlier, Nguyen Bao Tien, a distributor of books printed by the Liberal Publishing House, was also found guilty of the same charge and sentenced to five years and six months in prison.
In January, the People’s Court of Hanoi carried out two separate trials to try two civil activists Mai Phan Loi and Dang Dinh Bach on the allegation of “tax evasion” in a bid to silence their activities which aim to promote civil rights education. The two activists were convicted and sentenced to three years and five years in prison, respectively.
Meanwhile, former police officer and anti-corruption activist Le Chi Thanh was convicted of “resisting on-duty state officials” and sentenced to two years in prison.
In all these trials, the judges did not respect defense statements of the defendants and their lawyers, imposing heavy sentences after short hearings which did not meet international standards for a fair trial. Relatives of the defendants were not permitted to enter the courtrooms although these hearings were said to be open for the public.
On March 24, the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi rejected the appeal of human rights defender and democracy campaigner Do Nam Trung, upholding his ten-year imprisonment given by the People’s Court of Nam Dinh province in the first-instance hearing in late 2021. Mr. Trung was arrested in July last year on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code for his online postings which aim to promote multi-party democracy, report human rights violations as well as speak out about systemic corruption among state officials and agencies.
Mistreatment in prison
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security continues its policy to keep prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience, under hard living conditions in a bid to punish them for their non-violent activities but harmful for the communist regime and break their mental strength. Along with sending prisoners of conscience to prisons far from their families, it allows authorities in the prisons and the temporary detention centers to apply other psychological measures to make the life of jailed activists harder, such as denying them their rights to regular meetings with their families and receiving additional food and medicines from their relatives, placing them in solitary cells or isolated areas, or forcing them to work hard without proper protective equipment. It also puts added psychological and financial trauma on the family members.
After refusing their family to meet with prisoner of conscience Can Thi Theu (f) and her two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu since their arrests in June 2021, Vietnam’s authorities allowed them to make calls or face-to-face meetings with their relatives. Mrs. Theu said she was held in a cell together with HIV-infected inmates in a closed cell without ventilator while her two sons reported that they were brutally tortured by police officers during pre-trial detention.
Due to inhumane treatment in prison, many prisoners of conscience have deteriorating health. Mr. Phan Thanh Y, who was serving his 12-year imprisonment in Xuyen Moc Prison camp in Vung Tau, reportedly died from severe diseases due to lack of proper treatment.
Many former prisoners of conscience reported that most prisoners of conscience from ethnic minorities have no family visits and their lives in prisons are very hard since they rely on prison’s supply only.
Release from prison in January-March
In January-March, three prisoners of conscience named Vo Thuong Trung, Tran Thanh Phuong, and Nguyen Van Oai completed their sentences and were released. However, they are still under probation and closely under police surveillance. Mr. Phuong is forced not to stay with his family but in a place far from the location where his wife and children reside.
Defend the Defenders is concerned that authorities in Hanoi are still keeping blogger Le Anh Hung (m) in a local mental facility after investigating him on the respective allegations of “abusing democratic freedom” without any judicial process. The activist was subjected to forced medication, which can constitute torture under international law.
=============
The term “prisoner of conscience” (POC) was coined by Peter Benenson in the 1960s. It refers to any individual “imprisoned for his/her political, religious or conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or another status who have not used violence or advocated violence or hatred.”
Defend the Defenders is Vietnam’s independent non-profit organization working to promote human and civil rights in the Southeast Asian nation. It has a network of dozens of human rights defenders across the nation who report human rights abuse in their areas.
Appendix 1: List of arrested activists in January-March 2022
Appendix 2: List of activists convicted in January-March 2022
Appendix 3: List of Prisoners of Conscience Released in January-March 2022
Appendix 4: List of Prisoners of Conscience as of March 31, 2022