Concerns and Fear Spread among Vietnam’s NGOs After Three Activists Imprisoned for Fabricated Tax Evasion

Defend the Defenders, April 2022

by Vu Quoc Ngu*

Concerns and fear have spread among Vietnam’s non-profit non-government organizations (NGOs) after the authoritarian regime has convicted two well-known activists and arrested one world-recognized environmentalist, all in fabricated charge of “tax evasion.”

Along with imprisoning hundreds of political dissidents and outspoken bloggers in the past few years, the regime is launching a new wave of crackdown on local activists who are working in registered civil groups such as Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center (LPSD), Media and Education Community (MEC), and Green Innovation and Development Center (GreenID).

Recently, MEC’s President Mai Phan Loi and LPSD’s Director Dang Dinh Bach have been convicted of tax evasion while GreenID’s Director Nguy Thi Khanh has reportedly been detained for the same accusation, the allegation Vietnam’s security forces often use against local activists if they fail to use other allegations in the National Security charter of the Criminal Code.

Both Mr. Loi, 51, and Mr. Bach, 44, were arrested in mid-2021, and taken to courts this month. On January 11, the People’s Court of Hanoi found Loi guilty for evading his organization’s tax and sentenced him to four years in prison. Nearly two weeks later, on January 24, Bach was convicted by the same court and given five years in prison. Both hearings reportedly failed to meet international standards for a fair trial and even Vietnam’s Criminal Procedure Code. Their cases were purely political and they were imprisoned for their activities, given the fact that according to Vietnam’s laws, all NGOs are not subject to taxation.

Recently, Ms. Khanh, who is famous in both the domestic and international arena for her environmental protection efforts, has been taken into custody on the allegation of personal tax evasion. She faces imprisonment of up to seven years if convicted, according to the Criminal Code.

The common thing for the three activists is that they were engaged in Vietnam’s Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)’s implementation regarding labor rights and environmental aspects. DAG has been formed under Article 13 of the agreement which is economically important for the 26-country bloc and Vietnam. It is worth noting that President Dr. Pham Chi Dung of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, partly due to his request to the EU not to sign the trade deal with Vietnam before Hanoi improves its human rights record.

While Bach is an environmentalist and focuses on education with the aim to raise community’s awareness of people’s rights, Loi is an outspoken journalist operating two Facebook pages Young Journalists Forum and Journalist-Citizen View which discuss many Vietnamese issues such as education, environment, corruption, and injustice, etc.

Many activists working for registered NGOs have shared with Defend the Defenders that numerous groups have concerned about the ongoing suppression, even some fear that they may become next victims.

Bach’s wife Tran Phuong Thao, who is also working for his group, said that many people working in NGOs and know their couple, have expressed their sympathy over his arrest and conviction and sometimes donated them as their family is in difficulty after his detention while their first baby was born about a half month prior to his arrest. However, they remain silent on the arrests and convictions of the three activists and take no action to advocate for them, Thao said. When she asked people working in NGOs and understanding her husband’s activities to join a campaign to request for his freedom, they have no answers.

Since 2015, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime has intensified its repression against local activists and bloggers as the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is willing to ensure its absolute leadership amid growing social dissatisfaction regarding increasing social gap, corruption, human rights violations, etc.

The crackdown started with the arrests of human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai, founder and leader of the unregistered group Brotherhood for Democracy, in late 2015. Two years later, Vietnam’s security forces arrested nine key members of the group, and all of them, together with Dai, were charged with subversion. In 2018, they were convicted and sentenced to between seven and 15 years in prison.

In 2020, the regime launched attack against another unregistered professional group IJAVN, arresting its founder and president Dr. Pham Chi Dung and his deputy Nguyen Tuong Thuy and editor Le Huu Minh Tuan on trumped-up allegation “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code. In January 2021, the trio was convicted and Mr. Dung was sentenced to 15 years in prison while Mr. Thuy and Mr. Tuan were given 11 years in prison each.

In 2011, when China deployed its oil rig in Vietnam’s waters in the South China Sea, thousands of Vietnamese conducted eleven consecutive Sunday protests in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other major cities to protest China’s expansionism in the resource-rich sea. Vietnam’s police used forces to disperse many of these peaceful demonstrations but conducted only short detentions of participants. However, from 2018, the police have taken stronger measures, arresting hundreds of demonstrators and charged them with “causing public disorders” like they treated with the mass protests in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern and central cities in 2018.

The dissent movement rose fastly after 2011 but it stepped back in recent years due to the ongoing intensified suppression in which around 50 activists were arrested and charged with controversial articles in the National Security provisions of the Criminal Code each year. Not only the number of detained activists rose sharply, but the sentences imposed on them become more and more severe. A decade ago, the common sentence for “conducting anti-state propaganda” was three-four years in prison but ỉn recent years, convicted of this accusation were given between five to 15 years in prison.

Since late 2015, Vietnam’s security forces have intensified its crackdown on political dissidents, social activists, human rights defenders, and bloggers. Hundreds of activists have been arrested and charged with controversial allegations in the National Security provisions of the Criminal Code, mostly subversion, “conducting anti-state propaganda,” and “abusing democratic freedom.” Meanwhile, tax evasion accusation has also been applied in a number of cases such as against pro-democracy activist Le Quoc Quan and independent journalist Nguyen Van Hai who has been forced to live in exile in the US after being sentenced to 11 years in prison. 

Last year, Vietnam arrested 28 activists, mostly charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedom.” The regime also convicted and sentenced 31 to a total 209 years in prison and 47 years of probation. So far this year, the regime has detained four activists and sentenced six activists to a total 23 years in prison.

According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam is holding at least 256 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi always denies holding prisoners of conscience but only law violators.

*Vu Quoc Ngu is a director of a local rights group named Defend the Defenders. He can be reached at @NguMSc or vuquocngu2003@gmail.com