Defend the Defenders’ Latest Statistics: Vietnam Holds 256 Prisoners of Conscience

Defend the Defenders, Press Release, April 1, 2021

For immediate release

According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, as of March 31, 2021, Vietnam’s communist regime is holding at least 256 prisoners of conscience in prisons or other forms of detention. The number does not include Ngo Hao (m) whose sentence is currently suspended for medical treatment and Le Anh Hung (m) who are forcibly committed in mental hospitals 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.

The list includes female activist Huynh Thuc Vy (f) who has been convicted and sentenced but is held under house arrest in the maternal period.

As many as 23 of the prisoners of conscience identified by Defend the Defenders are women human rights defenders (WHRDs).

In total, 183 people, or 72.3% 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 62 people or 24.5% 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 32 activists in pre-trial detention, 27 of them were arrested in 2018-2020 and the remaining five were arrested in January-March this year. Among them is well-known political blogger Pham Chi Thanh (aka Pham Thanh- m), and globally-recognized human rights defender and political blogger Pham Doan Trang (f). Both were arrested in 2020 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 are convicted.

The above includes 224 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:

– 50 activists convicted or charged with subversion (Article 79 of 1999 Penal Code or Article 109 in the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 52 activists convicted or 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);

– 22 activists were convicted or charged with “abusing democratic freedom” (Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code or Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code);

– 12 activists were convicted or charged with “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the 2015 Criminal Code;

– 25 individuals were convicted of or charged with “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 on March 19 last year.

Vietnam is among world’s biggest prisons for journalists and Facebookers, holding 28 of them in police custody, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s report released on December 1, 2020. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also listed Vietnam among the global biggest prisons for journalistswith 15 journalists being imprisoned.

Background

Vietnam’s communist regime tightens control over the nation, intensifying its crackdown on local political dissidents, government critics, social activists, and human rights defenders before and after the 13th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) which was held on January 24-February 1 this year. During the congress, many conservative senior leaders such as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc who will take the state president post in April, and Minister of Public Security To Lam, were re-elected to the party’s most powerful body Politburo and they will continue to hold high-ranking positions of the regime in the next five year. More arrests and severe imprisonments are expected in coming years.

It is unclear whether under the new administration of President Joe Biden the US can pressure on Vietnam on human rights issues to request Hanoi to respect its international commitments on human rights and stop the ongoing persecution and release prisoners of conscience or not. During the Trump’s administration in the past five years, the bilateral relationship developed fast in economic and defense-security aspects, however, ordinary Vietnamese have yet benefited from that development while government critics have suffered from arbitrary detentions and severe imprisonments.

Arrest in January-March

Between January 1 and March 31, Vietnam arrested five Facebookers. Three of them were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 while the remaining two were alleged with “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331. It is worth noting that Mr. Le Trong Hung from Hanoi and Mr. Tran Quoc Khanh from Ninh Binh were taken into police custody after announcing their plans to run for the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly in the upcoming election in late May. Medical doctor Nguyen Duy Huong from the central province of Nghe An was arrested after criticizing Vietnamese leaders on human rights violations, including the severe human rights abuse against Dong Tam land petitioners. Meanwhile, state newspaper journalist Phan Bui Bao Thy and his partner Le Anh Dung were arrested and charged with “abusing democratic freedom” after denouncing state officials’ corruption.

Convictions in January-March

In the first three months of this year, Vietnam’s communist regime convicted ten activists and sentenced them to a combined total 80 years in prison and 15 years of probation.

On January 5, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City convicted three members of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), President PhD. Pham Chi Dung, Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and young editor Le Huu Minh Tuan of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for their online posts. Mr. Dung was sentenced to 15 years in prison and three years of probation, the most severe sentence given for the charge for decades. Mr. Thuy and Mr. Tuan were given 11 years in prison followed by three years of probation each. After the first-instance hearing, Mr. Dung did not appeal the court’s decision because he does not have belief in Vietnam’s judicial system while Mr. Thuy also did not submit his appeal after security officers wanted him to write the petition under their direction. Only Mr. Tuan appealed but it is unclear where the appeal hearing will be held.

Two weeks later, on January 20, the People’s Court of Hau Giang convicted local environmental activist and human rights defender Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, also of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for her online activities which aim to address the country’s issues. She was sentenced to seven years in prison.

On March 30, in two separate trials, four Facebookers were also convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced to a combined total 31 years in prison and six years of probation. The People’s Court of Lam Dong province sentenced Mr. Vu Tien Chi to ten years in prison followed by three years of probation while the People’s Court of Khanh Hoa province gave Ms. Nguyen Thi Cam Thuy nine years in prison and three years of probation, Ms. Ngo Thi Ha Phuong- seven years in prison, and Mr. Le Viet Hoa- five years in prison. They were alleged of posting articles and livestreams on their Facebook accounts with content to distort the regime’s policies and defame the regime’s leaders.

The four hearings failed to meet international standards for a fair trial as the sentences were pre-determined before the hearing started, the defense of the activists’ lawyers and themselves was ignored and the hearings lasted only one day. Like other political cases, the presence in a courtroom was limited to a few relatives of the defendants-activists.

On March 24, the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi rejected the appeal of poet dissident and human rights defender Tran Duc Thach who was convicted of subversion and sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of probation by the People’s Court of Nghe An province in the first-instance hearing on December 15 last year due to his participation in the unregistered group Brotherhood for Democracy whose ten members were arrested and convicted of subversion in recent years.

Two days earlier, the People’s Court of Phu Yen province suddenly canceled the first-instance hearing against local freelance journalist Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu who was arrested on August 21 last year on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” for her online posts on various issues the country is facing.

After two days of working out of scheduled three days, in the evening of March 9, the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi announced its final decision regarding appeal of six Dong Tam land petitioners who were accused of murder or “resisting on-duty state officials” during the bloody raid of around 3,000 riot policemen to the commune on January 9 last year. The court upheld the severe sentences given by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in mid-September 2020 despite defense lawyers showing strong evidence for the investigation’s wrongdoings and the six land petitioners’ claims of their innocence. The death sentences of two brothers Mr. Le Dinh Cong and Mr. Le Dinh Chuc and the life imprisonment of Mr. Le Dinh Danh as well as severe imprisonment sentences of three others were upheld. According to lawyers’ report, the appeal hearing failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial, like the first-instance hearing.

After more than nine months of being held incommunicado by the Hoa Binh province’s police since her arrest in late June last year, in late March, former prisoner of conscience Can Thi Theu was permitted to meet her lawyer for the first time to prepare for her defense in the first-instance hearing which is expected to be held in coming weeks. Her second son Trinh Ba Tu who was arrested on the same day of the same allegation “conducting anti-state propaganda” and held incommunicado in the same temporary detention under the authority of the Hoa Binh province’s Police Department, is expected to meet his lawyer soon.

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.

Mr. Trinh Ba Phuong, the oldest son of Mrs. Theu who was also arrested on the same day with his mother and younger brother Tu on the same allegation “conducting anti-state propaganda” for advocating Dong Tam land petitioners, was transferred to a mental hospital in early March for psychological assessment after he keeps his right of silence during interrogation without the presence of his lawyer. He faces the risk of being injected with drugs during the time of the assessment. The authorities of Hanoi did not inform his family about the transfer and his wife had to ask the police officer responsible for the case about his situation.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, who was sentenced to five years in prison on charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” last year and currently serves her sentence in An Phuoc Prison camp, is suffering from a number of severe diseases such as kidney and liver disorders but the prison authorities refuse to send her to a hospital for treatment. Her life is under a great risk if she will not be treated property on time, according to former prisoner of conscience Doan Thi Hong, who shared the same cell with Suong before being released on March 9.

Labor activist and human rights defender Nguyen Van Duc Do, who is serving his 11-year imprisonment in Xuan Loc Prison camp in the southern province of Dong Nai, has been placed in a solitary cell for around 300 days and not permitted to meet with his relatives nor receive additional food from his family. He has been beaten and threatened by guard dogs while suffering from a number of severe diseases.

Since October last year, labor activist Hoang Duc Binh, who is serving his 14-year imprisonment in An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam, has been denied of family’s visits and his right to receive additional food and stuffs from his family as the prison’s punishment for his refusal to wear the prison uniform with letters Criminal. Binh has never admitted to committing crimes but advocating for human rights and workers’ rights.

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 2020

In January-March, ten prisoners of conscience were released or expected to complete their imprisonments. Defend the Defenders has no information which would confirm the release of most of them. However, Defend the Defenders still excludes their names from this list.

On February 4, anti-corruption activist Ha Van Nam was released, seven months earlier than his imprisonment due. More than one month later, Ms. Doan Thi Hong completed her 30 months of imprisonment and returned home to unite with her daughter who was under two years of age when she was arrested in early September 2018.

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.In the same situation is Mr. Trinh Ba Phuong, who was taken to a mental hospital in early March for psychological assessment. In 2020, blogger  Pham Chi Thanh was also sent to the same facility but taken back to police custody after the assessment.

Vietnam’s authorities have extended the imprisonment suspension of Mr. Ngo Hao, allowing him to stay outside for a further three months for medical treatment for his poor health.

=============

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 2021

Appendix 2: List of activists convicted in January-March 2021

Appendix 3: List of Prisoners of Conscience Released in January-March 2021

Appendix 4: List of Prisoners of Conscience as of March 31, 2021