Defend the Defenders, Press Release, January 10, 2024
For immediate release
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of December 31, 2023, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime is holding at least 258 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number includes activist Nguyen Thuy Hanh who is held for enforced psychological treatment after being arrested on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015, and two Facebookers Ta Mien Linh and Le Thach Giang who were convicted of “abusing democratic freedom” and sentenced to between two and half years and three and half years but allowed to stay at home.
As many as 28 of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women human rights defenders (WHRDs).
In total, 181 people, or 70% 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 66 people or 25.6% of those on the list. There are eight prisoners of conscience from Hmong ethnic minority and three 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 41 activists in pre-trial detention or their trials have not been publicized, 13 of them were arrested in 2023 and the remaining 28 were detained in 2018-2022 but we do not have information about their trials and convictions nor the exact locations they are held.
There are 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:
– 65 activists convicted or charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 57 people from ethnic minorities were convicted of undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 116 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 50 activists were convicted or charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 43 activists convicted or charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);
– Three activists were convicted of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;
– Two activists Nguyen Van Vien (m) and Tran Van Quyen (m) were convicted of “terrorism against the people’s government” under Article 113 of the 2015 Criminal Code.
– The charges for 14 individuals are unknown, and 13 of them from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and the Northern region, and Phan Van Bach, who was arrested on December 29 this year.
Vietnam is among world’s biggest prisons for journalists and Facebookers, holding 36 of them in police custody, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s report released in December 2023. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also listed Vietnam among the global biggest prisons for journalists with 21 journalists being imprisoned as of December 1, 2022.
Background
Along with conducting an anti-corruption campaign but political purge in reality, the authoritarian regime in Vietnam is intensifying its crackdown on political dissidents, social activists, independent journalists and Facebookers. Many activists have been imprisoned even after suspending their activism for years.
Recently, the Ministry of Public Security announced that in 2024, it will eradicate all groups and movements having political opposition to that of the ruling communist party. It means that more severe suppression is expected in the coming months.
The regime is now targeting registered civil organizations like it did in the past two years and the new victims are environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong and clean energy specialist Ngo Thi To Nhien.
Vietnam and the US elevated their bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership during the visit of President Joe Biden to Hanoi in September, however, the country’s human rights record remains concerned, including the right to freedom of religion. On January 4, 2024, US State Secretary Anthony Bliken announced his decision to keep Vietnam in the Special Watch List for tolerating serious religious violations.
Arrest in 2023
Between January 1 and December 31, Vietnam arrested 24 activists and bloggers (see details in Appendix 1).
Four activists were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and among them are well-known blogger Duong Van Thai who has been a political refugee in Thailand since 2018 but taken back to Vietnam in mid April, 2023. Others are Duong Tuan Ngoc, religious activist Nguyen Hoang Nam, and Phan Tat Thanh, former admin of fanpage Nhat Ky Yeu Nuoc (Patriotic Diary).
As many as 15 activists and Facebookers were arrested in 2023 under allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code with imprisonment up to seven years in prison.
It was worth noting that environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was arrested and charged with “tax evasion” similar to other activists such as Dang Dinh Bach, Mai Phan Loi, Bach Hung Duong and Nguy Thi Khanh in 2021-2022. In addition, energy specialist Ngo Thi To Nhien was detained on the charge of “Appropriation, trading, destruction of an organization’s seal or document” under Article 342 of the Criminal Code with imprisonment of up to two years.
Convictions in 2023
In 2023, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime convicted 20 activists and bloggers (see details in Appendix 2). Seven were found guilty of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced to between five and eight years in prison. Among them are well-known political dissidents Tran Van Bang (Tran Bang), Dang Dang Phuoc, Nguyen Lan Thang, Truong Van Dung, Bui Tuan Lam. All of them were tried unfairly in short hearings which lasted several hours and failed to meet international standards for fair trial.
Nine activists and bloggers were convicted of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to between 15 months and five years in prison.
Environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was convicted of “tax evasion” and sentenced to three years in prison. She was accused of failing to pay a tax value of VND6.7 billion from foreign aids for her non-profit group’s projects.
In all the cases, there are serious violations of human rights as well as the Criminal Procedure Code in all steps from detention to prosecution. The defendants were held incommunicado for months and permitted to meet with their lawyers in the short time before their trial. All the trials were extremely short in which the defendants’ relatives were not allowed to be present in the courtrooms while foreign diplomats were observing the hearings in adjacent rooms via TV screens. In some cases, including the trials against Bui Tuan Lam, his younger brothers were beaten and taken to a police station together with his wife. In all cases, the judges ignored the defense of the defendants and their lawyers.
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.
In Prison camp No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An, activists Dang Dinh Bach and Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and some other political prisoners were threatened with beating by unknown individuals at midnight. Later, Bach was beaten by prison guards when he tried to inform his family about the incident during a visit. Bach is still under special monitoring by prison guards and not permitted to enjoy some rights like other prisoners.
Nguyen Duc Hung, who is serving his five years and six months after being convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” in 2022, has been held in isolated areas in Ba Sao Prison camp since October 2022. He was not allowed to communicate with his family and his family was permitted to meet him in late December, the second time in the year.
Trinh Ba Phuong, Truong Van Dung and Phan Cong Hai were beaten and placed in solitary cells in August after holding a demonstration protesting the inhumane treatment in An Phuoc Prison camp.
Many prisoners of conscience suffer from serious diseases but are denied proper medical treatment.
In many prison detentions across the nation, prisoners of conscience have been forced to work otherwise they would be held in closed cells all day. The works include construction, farming, and handicraft without proper protective tools.
Many former prisoners of conscience reported that most of the 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 2023
Between January 1 and December 31, 43 prisoners of conscience were released or expected to complete their imprisonments (see details in Appendix No. 3). Defend the Defenders has no information which would confirm the release of some of them. However, Defend the Defenders still excludes their names from its list of prisoners of conscience.
Mr. Chau Van Kham, a 74-year-old Vietnamese Australian, was released and allowed to travel to re-unite with his family after spending more than four years in prison in Vietnam.
=============
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.
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January 10, 2024
Defend the Defenders’ Latest Statistics: Vietnam Holds 258 Prisoners of Conscience
by Defend the Defenders • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders, Press Release, January 10, 2024
For immediate release
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of December 31, 2023, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime is holding at least 258 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number includes activist Nguyen Thuy Hanh who is held for enforced psychological treatment after being arrested on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015, and two Facebookers Ta Mien Linh and Le Thach Giang who were convicted of “abusing democratic freedom” and sentenced to between two and half years and three and half years but allowed to stay at home.
As many as 28 of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women human rights defenders (WHRDs).
In total, 181 people, or 70% 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 66 people or 25.6% of those on the list. There are eight prisoners of conscience from Hmong ethnic minority and three 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 41 activists in pre-trial detention or their trials have not been publicized, 13 of them were arrested in 2023 and the remaining 28 were detained in 2018-2022 but we do not have information about their trials and convictions nor the exact locations they are held.
There are 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:
– 65 activists convicted or charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” (Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 57 people from ethnic minorities were convicted of undermining the national unity policy (Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 116 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 50 activists were convicted or charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);
– 43 activists convicted or charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);
– Three activists were convicted of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;
– Two activists Nguyen Van Vien (m) and Tran Van Quyen (m) were convicted of “terrorism against the people’s government” under Article 113 of the 2015 Criminal Code.
– The charges for 14 individuals are unknown, and 13 of them from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and the Northern region, and Phan Van Bach, who was arrested on December 29 this year.
Vietnam is among world’s biggest prisons for journalists and Facebookers, holding 36 of them in police custody, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s report released in December 2023. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also listed Vietnam among the global biggest prisons for journalists with 21 journalists being imprisoned as of December 1, 2022.
Background
Along with conducting an anti-corruption campaign but political purge in reality, the authoritarian regime in Vietnam is intensifying its crackdown on political dissidents, social activists, independent journalists and Facebookers. Many activists have been imprisoned even after suspending their activism for years.
Recently, the Ministry of Public Security announced that in 2024, it will eradicate all groups and movements having political opposition to that of the ruling communist party. It means that more severe suppression is expected in the coming months.
The regime is now targeting registered civil organizations like it did in the past two years and the new victims are environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong and clean energy specialist Ngo Thi To Nhien.
Vietnam and the US elevated their bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership during the visit of President Joe Biden to Hanoi in September, however, the country’s human rights record remains concerned, including the right to freedom of religion. On January 4, 2024, US State Secretary Anthony Bliken announced his decision to keep Vietnam in the Special Watch List for tolerating serious religious violations.
Arrest in 2023
Between January 1 and December 31, Vietnam arrested 24 activists and bloggers (see details in Appendix 1).
Four activists were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and among them are well-known blogger Duong Van Thai who has been a political refugee in Thailand since 2018 but taken back to Vietnam in mid April, 2023. Others are Duong Tuan Ngoc, religious activist Nguyen Hoang Nam, and Phan Tat Thanh, former admin of fanpage Nhat Ky Yeu Nuoc (Patriotic Diary).
As many as 15 activists and Facebookers were arrested in 2023 under allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code with imprisonment up to seven years in prison.
It was worth noting that environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was arrested and charged with “tax evasion” similar to other activists such as Dang Dinh Bach, Mai Phan Loi, Bach Hung Duong and Nguy Thi Khanh in 2021-2022. In addition, energy specialist Ngo Thi To Nhien was detained on the charge of “Appropriation, trading, destruction of an organization’s seal or document” under Article 342 of the Criminal Code with imprisonment of up to two years.
Convictions in 2023
In 2023, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime convicted 20 activists and bloggers (see details in Appendix 2). Seven were found guilty of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced to between five and eight years in prison. Among them are well-known political dissidents Tran Van Bang (Tran Bang), Dang Dang Phuoc, Nguyen Lan Thang, Truong Van Dung, Bui Tuan Lam. All of them were tried unfairly in short hearings which lasted several hours and failed to meet international standards for fair trial.
Nine activists and bloggers were convicted of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to between 15 months and five years in prison.
Environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was convicted of “tax evasion” and sentenced to three years in prison. She was accused of failing to pay a tax value of VND6.7 billion from foreign aids for her non-profit group’s projects.
In all the cases, there are serious violations of human rights as well as the Criminal Procedure Code in all steps from detention to prosecution. The defendants were held incommunicado for months and permitted to meet with their lawyers in the short time before their trial. All the trials were extremely short in which the defendants’ relatives were not allowed to be present in the courtrooms while foreign diplomats were observing the hearings in adjacent rooms via TV screens. In some cases, including the trials against Bui Tuan Lam, his younger brothers were beaten and taken to a police station together with his wife. In all cases, the judges ignored the defense of the defendants and their lawyers.
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.
In Prison camp No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An, activists Dang Dinh Bach and Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and some other political prisoners were threatened with beating by unknown individuals at midnight. Later, Bach was beaten by prison guards when he tried to inform his family about the incident during a visit. Bach is still under special monitoring by prison guards and not permitted to enjoy some rights like other prisoners.
Nguyen Duc Hung, who is serving his five years and six months after being convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” in 2022, has been held in isolated areas in Ba Sao Prison camp since October 2022. He was not allowed to communicate with his family and his family was permitted to meet him in late December, the second time in the year.
Trinh Ba Phuong, Truong Van Dung and Phan Cong Hai were beaten and placed in solitary cells in August after holding a demonstration protesting the inhumane treatment in An Phuoc Prison camp.
Many prisoners of conscience suffer from serious diseases but are denied proper medical treatment.
In many prison detentions across the nation, prisoners of conscience have been forced to work otherwise they would be held in closed cells all day. The works include construction, farming, and handicraft without proper protective tools.
Many former prisoners of conscience reported that most of the 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 2023
Between January 1 and December 31, 43 prisoners of conscience were released or expected to complete their imprisonments (see details in Appendix No. 3). Defend the Defenders has no information which would confirm the release of some of them. However, Defend the Defenders still excludes their names from its list of prisoners of conscience.
Mr. Chau Van Kham, a 74-year-old Vietnamese Australian, was released and allowed to travel to re-unite with his family after spending more than four years in prison in Vietnam.
=============
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.
For further information, please contact:
Email: vietnamhumanrightsdefenders@gmail.com
Website: vietnamhumanrightsdefenders.net
Appendix 1: List of arrested activists and bloggers in 2023
Appendix 2: List of activists and bloggers convicted in 2023
Appendix 3: List of Prisoners of Conscience Released in 2023
Appendix 4: List of Prisoners of Conscience as of December 31, 2023
(sources: Defend the Defenders, 2023)