Vietnam: Crackdown Ahead of Party Congress
Dissidents Sent to Prison Amid Preparations for Key Political Event
HRW | 2021-01-22
“Vietnam’s Communist Party is preparing for the pageantry of its party congress
while sending people to prison for posting their views and opinions on Facebook,
as millions worldwide do every day,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at
Human Rights Watch. “For all its propaganda about an ‘era of independence,
freedom, and happiness,’ the Vietnamese government is really only interested in
its citizens’ silence and servility.”
On January 20, the authorities put Dinh Thi Thu Thuy on trial for articles and
Facebook posts critical of the party and government. She had been arrested in
April 2020 and charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under
article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code. After a perfunctory trial, a court in Hau
Giang convicted and sentenced her to 7 years in prison.
On January 5, in a trial that lasted less than six hours, a court in Ho Chi Minh
City ruled that the prominent bloggers Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le
Huu Minh Tuan were guilty of conducting propaganda against the state. The three
were associated with the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, founded
in July 2014 to promote media freedom and democracy. The court sentenced Pham
Chi Dung to 15 years in prison. Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan each
received 11-year sentences. Each will have to serve an additional three years on
probation after completing their prison terms.
In October, the police arrested Pham Doan Trang, a prominent dissident who
co-founded the Liberal Publishing House to publish nonfiction books by
Vietnamese authors on various social and political topics. In June, the police
arrested three other contributors to the Liberal Publishing House: a former
political prisoner, Can Thi Theu, and her sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu.
All four were charged with conducting propaganda against the state.
The 13th Party Congress will determine the next national leaders for a country
of more than 96 million people. The congress is neither democratic nor
transparent. Vietnamese citizens are prohibited from discussing candidates for
the top four positions of party secretary, prime minister, president, and
chairman of the National Assembly, all of which were designated “top secret” (tuyet
mat) under a decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in December.
“Concerned governments should speak out in support of Vietnam’s courageous
dissidents and expand their calls for democratic reforms,” Sifton said. “The
critics of one-party rule in Vietnam are not going away.”
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