Vietnamese Lawyer Beaten by Masked Men Following Human Rights Class
RFA - 12/07/2015
Masked assailants
in Vietnam detained and beat a dissident lawyer and his fellow activists after
they led a class to educate residents of Nghe An province about their human
rights, he said Monday, upon returning to his home in the capital Hanoi.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Dai told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that security personnel had
been monitoring the class of around 60 participants he led with three young
colleagues early on Sunday in Nam Dan district before ordering them to stop.
“After about half an hour, police and security forces came and demanded that we
end the class and began checking people’s IDs, but everyone protested,” Dai
said, adding that the activists invited the authorities to attend the talk—one
of several activities he organized ahead of International Human Rights Day on
Thursday.
“They sat and listened to the whole class through the morning. We only discussed
human rights protections in our constitution and some articles in the penal
code.”
Following the conclusion of an afternoon session, Dai and his fellow activists
Ly Quang Son, Vu Van Minh and Thang organized a taxi to return to Hanoi and were
advised by supporters that “security personnel [were waiting nearby with] a van
without a license plate,” some of whom were dressed in “plain clothes and wore
masks.”
“After about 10 kilometers [six miles] we saw two motorbikes carrying four
security personnel, but we thought they were only escorting us out of [the] area
and would not do anything to us,” he said.
“But about one kilometer [two-thirds of a mile] out of [provincial capital] Vinh,
a car began chasing us at high speed … After another two kilometers [1.25
miles], two more cars and four or five motorbikes joined them. When they had
enough people, they stopped us.”
According to Dai, “more than 10 people wearing masks and holding wooden clubs”
then began to kick the taxi’s doors.
“They took the four of us out, and also the driver, and began to beat us all.
They hit me in the shoulders and thighs, and then dragged me into their car.
They continued beating others, but I don’t know what happened to them after
that,” he said.
“Inside the car, one guy told me that he would break my left arm but when he was
about to do so he saw my ring with the [Catholic] cross and stopped. Another guy
held my head in one arm and hit me in the face with his other fist. They
continued hitting my face all the way to [nearby] Cua Lo [township].”
Dai told RFA his captors took his cell phone, wallet and even several items of
clothing, before forcing him out onto a beach and leaving him behind.
“Fortunately, a vendor lent me his cell phone to call people in Vinh and they
came and brought me back there,” he said.
Supporters in Vinh provided Dai with medical assistance and helped him get onto
a bus to Hanoi, but local authorities discovered he had returned to the area and
tried to intercept him, he said.
“They were waiting [along the route] for our bus to come, but before it arrived,
my friends discovered the trap,” Dai said.
“We all got off and returned to Vinh, where we hid and waited for another bus
[which left early on Monday]. We took that home to Hanoi without any incident.”
Passersby ‘dared not interfere’
Ly Quang Son told
RFA he had been riding in the backseat with Vu Van Minh and Thang when the taxi
was stopped, and that four or five assailants had pulled them out of the vehicle
after another group assaulted Dai and the taxi driver.
“They beat Minh on his legs several times until the club broke, and before they
could get another one to hit him with, he escaped,” he said.
“I saw Thang was beaten brutally—I wanted to rescue him but they had too many
people, so I had to run.”
Son said he and Minh ran in the direction of Hanoi as some of their assailants
followed them with motorbikes.
“We ran and shouted ‘we’re being robbed’… expecting people to help us, but they
only looked on and dared not interfere for fear of revenge,” he said.
Some passersby directed them to a nearby village where they hid behind a tomb
near a rice paddy, according to Son, who said the two were forced to strip off
their shirts to pretend they were local buffalo herders while authorities
continued to look for them.
Eventually, they borrowed some clothing and walked another four or five
kilometers (2.5 or three miles) to a medical clinic in Nghi Loc district, where
they received treatment before a group of supporters from Vinh came to meet
them.
Son said that when he and Minh were given a ride to a nearby bus station to
return to Hanoi, “about 20 security personnel rode after us on motorbikes, but
we were fortunately able to cut them off.”
He said that while the two of them returned safely to the capital on Monday,
neither has been able to contact Thang and were unclear of his whereabouts.
Frequent harassment
Dai, who had previously been imprisoned for his work on political cases, said he
had suffered a similar attack in May last year and several other incidents of
assault since, though none of the cases were ever resolved by police. He said he
had no intention of reporting the latest attack to the authorities.
He told RFA he believes he was targeted because the government has been unable
to stop him and his supporters from campaigning for human rights, adding that
Sunday’s incident would not dissuade him from carrying out his work.
“This is my cause—this is the path that I have chosen—and next time I will be
better equipped to deal with this kind of situation,” he said.
“We will never give up until all Vietnamese people are able to enjoy their human
rights, as dictated in the various international charters our government has
signed.”
Last month, lawyers Tran Thu Nam and Le Van Luan, who had advised the family of
a young man who died in police custody, were brutally attacked in Hanoi by a
group of thugs wearing masks, leaving them bloody and bruised. At the time, Dai
told RFA that the government may have ordered the attack to set an example for
others who might try to challenge the authorities.
Activists in Vietnam are holding several events, including forums in Hanoi and
the country’s commercial capital Ho Chi Minh, in the lead-up to International
Human Rights Day. Sources say security personnel have interfered in all of the
activities, which began on Dec. 5.
Report by Chan Nhu for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha.
Written in English by Joshua Lipes.