Defend the Defenders | March 7, 2021
In its Advance Edited Version document titled “Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-ninth session, 23–27 November 2020” released on February 19 this year, the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has stated that numerous cases indicate “a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Viet Nam which, if it continues, may amount to a serious violation of international law.”
The WGAD also said it welcomes any opportunity to work constructively with Vietnam’s government to address arbitrary detention. The group’s latest visit to Vietnam was in October 1994 and it said it is now an appropriate time to conduct another visit. In June 2018, it reiterated earlier requests to Vietnam to undertake a country visit, and it will continue to seek a positive response.
In recent years, Defend the Defenders and other NGOs have submitted more than 100 of petitions regarding arbitrary detentions in Vietnam to the WGAD, making Vietnam among countries in the world with highest numbers of arbitrary detention reports.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Freedom House says the communist-ruled Vietnam is not free in its latest report titled Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege released on March 3. According to Freedom House’s calculation, Vietnam has 19 points out of the total 100 points for totally free. Particularly, the Southeast Asian nation has 3 points of Political Rights and 16 points of Civil Liberties. The total points decreased by 1 point from the previous annual report of the organization.
On March 1, Online Free Press Coalition (OFPC) has included Vietnamese prominent human rights defender and political blogger Pham Doan Trang in its Ten Most Urgent Cases for March 2021 which highlights journalists who are incarcerated, under threat, or facing injustice. OFPC said it uses the list for advocacy campaign for their freedom and safety.
One day later, on March 2, a group of 14 lawyers defending Dong Tam land petitioners, issued a joint petition to the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi and other city’s judicial authorities regarding the Dong Tam case just six days before the appeal hearing of six land petitioners scheduled on March 8-10. In the 31-page petition, the lawyers cited numerous issues requiring clarification and many infringements of legal proceedings by judicial authorities from the investigation phase onwards regarding the Dong Tam case. The attorneys call for relevant authorities involved in the appeal hearing to pay attention to objective facts as cited that had not been given due attention to date.
===== March 1 =====
WGAD Says Vietnam Has Systemic Problem with Arbitrary Detention
Defend the Defenders: The United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has stated that numerous cases indicate “a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Viet Nam which, if it continues, may amount to a serious violation of international law.”
WGAD made this statement in its Advance Edited Version document titled “Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-ninth session, 23–27 November 2020” released on February 19 this year regarding the case of arbitrary detention of Vietnamese blogger Ho Hai (Ho Van Hai), who was arrested by Vietnam’s communist regime in 2016 on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code (1999) for his online posts. Mr. Hai, a medical doctor, was sentenced to four years in prison followed by two years of probation in 2018 in a trial which failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial.
The WGAD said that Mr. Hai’s case is one of several cases that have been referred to the Working Group in recent years regarding arbitrary detention in Vietnam. The cases follow a similar pattern of extended detention pending trial with no access to judicial review, incommunicado detention, prosecution under vaguely worded criminal offences for the peaceful exercise of human rights, the denial of access to legal counsel, a brief closed trial at which due process is not observed, disproportionately harsh sentencing and the denial of access to the outside world.
The WGAD said it welcomes any opportunity to work constructively with Vietnam to address arbitrary detention. Thegroup’s latest visit to Vietnam was in October 1994 and it said it is now an appropriate time to conduct another visit. In June 2018, it reiterated earlier requests to Vietnam to undertake a country visit, and it will continue to seek a positive response.
In order to keep the country under a one-party regime, Vietnam’s communist government is using all measures to prevent the formation of opposition parties and independent civil organizations. It has intensified crackdown on the local political dissidents, social activists, and human rights defenders since 2015, arbitrarily arresting hundreds of them on controversial allegations in the National security provisions of the Penal Code (1999) or the Criminal Code (2015) which became effective in 2018. Especially in recent years, dozens activists have been sentenced to lengthy imprisonment of between five and 20 years. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam holds at least more than 250 prisoners of conscience in severe living conditions in prison camps and temporary detention facilities across the nation while Hanoi always denies imprisoning any activists but only law violators.
In recent years, Defend the Defenders and other NGOs have submitted more than 100 of petitions regarding arbitrary detentions in Vietnam to the WGAD, making Vietnam among countries in the world with highest numbers of arbitrary detention reports.
——————–
Prominent Human Rights Defender Pham Doan Tranh Listed among Ten Most Urgent Cases of OFPO
Defend the Defenders: The Online Free Press Coalition (OFPC) has included Vietnamese prominent human rights defender and political blogger Pham Doan Trang in its Ten Most Urgent Cases for March 2021 which highlights journalists who are incarcerated, under threat, or facing injustice.
The list was made on March 1 and used by the organization for advocacy campaign for their freedom and safety, OFPC said on its website.
Ms. Trang, who has been awarded Press Freedom Prize by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Homo Homini Award by the Czech-based human rights organisation People In Need (PIN), was arrested on October 6 last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code (1999) and Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code (2015) which replaced the Penal Code in 2018 due to her advocacy for multi-party democracy and human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.
Trang, who has been under constant persecution of Vietnam’s commmunist regime in recent years, faces imprisonment up to 20 years if she is convicted. She has been held incommunicado since being detained last year. It is likely that the Security Investigation Agency under the Hanoi Police Department has extended her pre-trial detention for further more four months after the first four months of detention ended on February 6.
Since her arrest, the international community including numerous international NGOs and domestic independent civil society organizations have condemned Vietnam’s move and urged Hanoi to drop all the charges against her and free her immediately and unconditionally.
===== March 2 =====
14 Defence Lawyers Issue Joint Petition Regarding Dong Tam Case
Defend the Defenders: On March 2, a group of 14 lawyers defending Dong Tam land petitioners, issued a joint petition to the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi and other city’s judicial authorities regarding the Dong Tam case just six days before the appeal hearing of six land petitioners scheduled on March 8-10.
In the 31-page petition, the lawyers cited numerous issues requiring clarification and many infringements of legal proceedings by judicial authorities from the investigation phase onwards regarding the Dong Tam case.
They call for relevant authorities involved in the appeal hearing to pay attention to objective facts as cited that had not been given due attention to date.
They call for relevant authorities to allow family members of Dong Tam villagers who are defendants in the appeal hearing to sit in the court-room to observe court proceedings.
In addition, they suggest domestic media outlets and the foreign press be allowed in the court-room to report on the appeal hearing, so the public can be informed about this important case, and rumour of a show trial can be dismissed.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Pham Dinh Trong, in his article on March 4 pointed out that regarding the bloody raid in Dong Tam commune in the early hours of January 9 last year, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security had an attack plan named Plan 419A which proves that the ministry deployed about 3,000 riot policemen to launch the attack in which police officers shot to death the local communal leader Le Dinh Kinh and arrested around 30 land petitioners.
According to the police report, three police officers accidentally fell down a hole then died, purportedly by being burned to death. The official version of their deaths had been described in vague terms, the circumstances surrounding them were mysterious and defied logic. No investigation, no crime-scene enactment had been carried regarding their deaths, no scientific evidence had been provided.
Dong Tam villagers, who had no choice but to defend themselves against the sudden attack by 3,000 members of the armed forces, had been falsely accused and convicted of murders or “resisting on-duty state officials” by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in mid-September last year while the policemen who intentionally carried out the killing of Mr. Kinh – had never been subject to legal proceedings. The court sentenced two sons of Mr. Kinh, Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc to death penalty, his grandson Le Dinh Doanh to life imprisonment, three others to between 12 years and 16 years on charge of murder, and seven other land petitioners to between three and six years in prison and the remaining 15 to between 15 months and five years of probation on charge of “resisting on-duty state officials.” Only six of them have appealed the court’s final decisions.
Former army colonel Trong said the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi which is assigned to carry out the appeal hearing needs to summon witnesses including police officers involved in the Dong Tam attack, especially those who had opened fire to kill Mr. Kinh and injured several others, the villagers who were on site, to prove that Dong Tam villagers in fact carried out the murders of the three policemen and resisted officers who were carrying out public duties.
Trong also said Vietnam’s authorities have to conduct crime scene re-enactment. He said the three police officers who were reportedly killed during the attack were experienced and highly skilled officers so it is unlikely they could easily and simply fall down a hole and took no action to escape from the hole and had no moves when the villagers allegedly poured fuel down the hole where they stood and burned them alive. The veteran writer said crime scene re-enactment is necessary to prove the police’s version. He said that faced with a rain of police’s bullets, no villagers dared come out of their homes, yet they could mobilize each other, yelled out to each other, to bring over several fuel containers, one after another, down a small hole yet with enough oxygen to keep the fire burning continuously, long enough to turn the bodies of three policemen into charred remains.
Trong said the Dong Tam case was simply a land dispute between land users who were the villagers, and local authorities who try to grab their land to give to the army communication enterprise Viettel for building a property project.
===== March 3 =====
Freedom House Says Vietnam Is not Free in Its Latest Report
Defend the Defendes: The Washington-based Freedom House says the communist-ruled Vietnam is not free in its latest report titled Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege released on March 3.
According to Freedom House’s calculation, Vietnam has 19 points out of the total 100 points for totally free. Particularly, the Southeast Asian nation has 3 points of Political Rights and 16 points of Civil Liberties. The total points decreased by 1 point from the previous annual report of the organization.
In 2020, Vietnam arrested 37 activists and 29 land petitioners for their peaceful activities, according to Defend the Defenders’ statistics. The regime also convicted 23 activists and 29 land petitioners by the trials which failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial, sentencing two of them to death penalty and many others to lengthy imprisonments of between five years in prison and life imprisonment.
In addition, hundreds of Facebookers were imposed administrative fines up to VND30 million ($1,300) for their online posting and sharing regarding Covid-19 pandemics and the country’s issues such as systemic corruption and widespread environmental pollution. They were also requested to delete their posts.
=====================
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March 8, 2021
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly Report for March 1-7, 2021: WGAD Says Vietnam Carries Out Systemic Arbitrary Detention
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | March 7, 2021
In its Advance Edited Version document titled “Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-ninth session, 23–27 November 2020” released on February 19 this year, the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has stated that numerous cases indicate “a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Viet Nam which, if it continues, may amount to a serious violation of international law.”
The WGAD also said it welcomes any opportunity to work constructively with Vietnam’s government to address arbitrary detention. The group’s latest visit to Vietnam was in October 1994 and it said it is now an appropriate time to conduct another visit. In June 2018, it reiterated earlier requests to Vietnam to undertake a country visit, and it will continue to seek a positive response.
In recent years, Defend the Defenders and other NGOs have submitted more than 100 of petitions regarding arbitrary detentions in Vietnam to the WGAD, making Vietnam among countries in the world with highest numbers of arbitrary detention reports.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Freedom House says the communist-ruled Vietnam is not free in its latest report titled Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege released on March 3. According to Freedom House’s calculation, Vietnam has 19 points out of the total 100 points for totally free. Particularly, the Southeast Asian nation has 3 points of Political Rights and 16 points of Civil Liberties. The total points decreased by 1 point from the previous annual report of the organization.
On March 1, Online Free Press Coalition (OFPC) has included Vietnamese prominent human rights defender and political blogger Pham Doan Trang in its Ten Most Urgent Cases for March 2021 which highlights journalists who are incarcerated, under threat, or facing injustice. OFPC said it uses the list for advocacy campaign for their freedom and safety.
One day later, on March 2, a group of 14 lawyers defending Dong Tam land petitioners, issued a joint petition to the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi and other city’s judicial authorities regarding the Dong Tam case just six days before the appeal hearing of six land petitioners scheduled on March 8-10. In the 31-page petition, the lawyers cited numerous issues requiring clarification and many infringements of legal proceedings by judicial authorities from the investigation phase onwards regarding the Dong Tam case. The attorneys call for relevant authorities involved in the appeal hearing to pay attention to objective facts as cited that had not been given due attention to date.
===== March 1 =====
WGAD Says Vietnam Has Systemic Problem with Arbitrary Detention
Defend the Defenders: The United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has stated that numerous cases indicate “a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Viet Nam which, if it continues, may amount to a serious violation of international law.”
WGAD made this statement in its Advance Edited Version document titled “Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-ninth session, 23–27 November 2020” released on February 19 this year regarding the case of arbitrary detention of Vietnamese blogger Ho Hai (Ho Van Hai), who was arrested by Vietnam’s communist regime in 2016 on the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code (1999) for his online posts. Mr. Hai, a medical doctor, was sentenced to four years in prison followed by two years of probation in 2018 in a trial which failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial.
The WGAD said that Mr. Hai’s case is one of several cases that have been referred to the Working Group in recent years regarding arbitrary detention in Vietnam. The cases follow a similar pattern of extended detention pending trial with no access to judicial review, incommunicado detention, prosecution under vaguely worded criminal offences for the peaceful exercise of human rights, the denial of access to legal counsel, a brief closed trial at which due process is not observed, disproportionately harsh sentencing and the denial of access to the outside world.
The WGAD said it welcomes any opportunity to work constructively with Vietnam to address arbitrary detention. Thegroup’s latest visit to Vietnam was in October 1994 and it said it is now an appropriate time to conduct another visit. In June 2018, it reiterated earlier requests to Vietnam to undertake a country visit, and it will continue to seek a positive response.
In order to keep the country under a one-party regime, Vietnam’s communist government is using all measures to prevent the formation of opposition parties and independent civil organizations. It has intensified crackdown on the local political dissidents, social activists, and human rights defenders since 2015, arbitrarily arresting hundreds of them on controversial allegations in the National security provisions of the Penal Code (1999) or the Criminal Code (2015) which became effective in 2018. Especially in recent years, dozens activists have been sentenced to lengthy imprisonment of between five and 20 years. According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam holds at least more than 250 prisoners of conscience in severe living conditions in prison camps and temporary detention facilities across the nation while Hanoi always denies imprisoning any activists but only law violators.
In recent years, Defend the Defenders and other NGOs have submitted more than 100 of petitions regarding arbitrary detentions in Vietnam to the WGAD, making Vietnam among countries in the world with highest numbers of arbitrary detention reports.
——————–
Prominent Human Rights Defender Pham Doan Tranh Listed among Ten Most Urgent Cases of OFPO
Defend the Defenders: The Online Free Press Coalition (OFPC) has included Vietnamese prominent human rights defender and political blogger Pham Doan Trang in its Ten Most Urgent Cases for March 2021 which highlights journalists who are incarcerated, under threat, or facing injustice.
The list was made on March 1 and used by the organization for advocacy campaign for their freedom and safety, OFPC said on its website.
Ms. Trang, who has been awarded Press Freedom Prize by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Homo Homini Award by the Czech-based human rights organisation People In Need (PIN), was arrested on October 6 last year and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code (1999) and Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code (2015) which replaced the Penal Code in 2018 due to her advocacy for multi-party democracy and human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.
Trang, who has been under constant persecution of Vietnam’s commmunist regime in recent years, faces imprisonment up to 20 years if she is convicted. She has been held incommunicado since being detained last year. It is likely that the Security Investigation Agency under the Hanoi Police Department has extended her pre-trial detention for further more four months after the first four months of detention ended on February 6.
Since her arrest, the international community including numerous international NGOs and domestic independent civil society organizations have condemned Vietnam’s move and urged Hanoi to drop all the charges against her and free her immediately and unconditionally.
===== March 2 =====
14 Defence Lawyers Issue Joint Petition Regarding Dong Tam Case
Defend the Defenders: On March 2, a group of 14 lawyers defending Dong Tam land petitioners, issued a joint petition to the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi and other city’s judicial authorities regarding the Dong Tam case just six days before the appeal hearing of six land petitioners scheduled on March 8-10.
In the 31-page petition, the lawyers cited numerous issues requiring clarification and many infringements of legal proceedings by judicial authorities from the investigation phase onwards regarding the Dong Tam case.
They call for relevant authorities involved in the appeal hearing to pay attention to objective facts as cited that had not been given due attention to date.
They call for relevant authorities to allow family members of Dong Tam villagers who are defendants in the appeal hearing to sit in the court-room to observe court proceedings.
In addition, they suggest domestic media outlets and the foreign press be allowed in the court-room to report on the appeal hearing, so the public can be informed about this important case, and rumour of a show trial can be dismissed.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Pham Dinh Trong, in his article on March 4 pointed out that regarding the bloody raid in Dong Tam commune in the early hours of January 9 last year, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security had an attack plan named Plan 419A which proves that the ministry deployed about 3,000 riot policemen to launch the attack in which police officers shot to death the local communal leader Le Dinh Kinh and arrested around 30 land petitioners.
According to the police report, three police officers accidentally fell down a hole then died, purportedly by being burned to death. The official version of their deaths had been described in vague terms, the circumstances surrounding them were mysterious and defied logic. No investigation, no crime-scene enactment had been carried regarding their deaths, no scientific evidence had been provided.
Dong Tam villagers, who had no choice but to defend themselves against the sudden attack by 3,000 members of the armed forces, had been falsely accused and convicted of murders or “resisting on-duty state officials” by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in mid-September last year while the policemen who intentionally carried out the killing of Mr. Kinh – had never been subject to legal proceedings. The court sentenced two sons of Mr. Kinh, Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc to death penalty, his grandson Le Dinh Doanh to life imprisonment, three others to between 12 years and 16 years on charge of murder, and seven other land petitioners to between three and six years in prison and the remaining 15 to between 15 months and five years of probation on charge of “resisting on-duty state officials.” Only six of them have appealed the court’s final decisions.
Former army colonel Trong said the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi which is assigned to carry out the appeal hearing needs to summon witnesses including police officers involved in the Dong Tam attack, especially those who had opened fire to kill Mr. Kinh and injured several others, the villagers who were on site, to prove that Dong Tam villagers in fact carried out the murders of the three policemen and resisted officers who were carrying out public duties.
Trong also said Vietnam’s authorities have to conduct crime scene re-enactment. He said the three police officers who were reportedly killed during the attack were experienced and highly skilled officers so it is unlikely they could easily and simply fall down a hole and took no action to escape from the hole and had no moves when the villagers allegedly poured fuel down the hole where they stood and burned them alive. The veteran writer said crime scene re-enactment is necessary to prove the police’s version. He said that faced with a rain of police’s bullets, no villagers dared come out of their homes, yet they could mobilize each other, yelled out to each other, to bring over several fuel containers, one after another, down a small hole yet with enough oxygen to keep the fire burning continuously, long enough to turn the bodies of three policemen into charred remains.
Trong said the Dong Tam case was simply a land dispute between land users who were the villagers, and local authorities who try to grab their land to give to the army communication enterprise Viettel for building a property project.
===== March 3 =====
Freedom House Says Vietnam Is not Free in Its Latest Report
Defend the Defendes: The Washington-based Freedom House says the communist-ruled Vietnam is not free in its latest report titled Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege released on March 3.
According to Freedom House’s calculation, Vietnam has 19 points out of the total 100 points for totally free. Particularly, the Southeast Asian nation has 3 points of Political Rights and 16 points of Civil Liberties. The total points decreased by 1 point from the previous annual report of the organization.
In 2020, Vietnam arrested 37 activists and 29 land petitioners for their peaceful activities, according to Defend the Defenders’ statistics. The regime also convicted 23 activists and 29 land petitioners by the trials which failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial, sentencing two of them to death penalty and many others to lengthy imprisonments of between five years in prison and life imprisonment.
In addition, hundreds of Facebookers were imposed administrative fines up to VND30 million ($1,300) for their online posting and sharing regarding Covid-19 pandemics and the country’s issues such as systemic corruption and widespread environmental pollution. They were also requested to delete their posts.
=====================