Vietnamese University Professor Arrested for ‘Slandering’ Local Party Chief
RFA | 09-30-2020
Police in Vietnam arrested a Ho Chi Minh City university professor on Wednesday
on charges of slandering a local Communist Party official by accusing him of
plagiarizing the thesis he wrote for his doctoral degree, according to state
media reports.
Pham Dinh Quy, a lecturer at Ton Duc Thang University, was taken into custody on
Sept. 23, but was formally arrested on Sept. 30 under Article 156 of Vietnam’s
Penal Code after publishing articles online and in print criticizing Dak Lak
province party chief Bui Van Cuong.
Pham was seized by police while dining with his wife in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh
Thanh district, and his posted articles were taken down, with one online
magazine fined VND 50 million (U.S. $2,000) and its print version suspended for
two months.
Following Pham’s arrest, family members petitioned authorities in Vietnam’s
central government and in the central highlands province of Dak Lak for
permission to visit Pham in custody, saying they had been denied access during
his earlier week-long period of detention.
Vietnamese police routinely investigate postings on Facebook and other online
media that authorities claim “slander or offend the prestige” of Vietnamese
government leaders, including Communist Party members and provincial officials.
On Sept. 18, authorities in the country’s south central coastal province of Binh
Dinh arrested Le Van Hai, a Facebook user, for sharing his grievances online
about how local government authorities had handled a dispute over his family’s
land, charging him with “abusing freedom and democratic rights to infringe upon
the interests of the state” under Article 33 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.
Vietnam’s already low tolerance of dissent has deteriorated sharply this year
with a spate of arrests of independent journalists and publishers, as well as
Facebook personalities. And activists say things are likely to get worse as
authorities stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party congress
in January.
Vietnam Human Rights Network |