Three Vietnamese Activists Jailed on ‘Politically-Motivated’ Charges
FRA –
08/26/2014
Three
activists in Vietnam were sentenced on Tuesday to up to three years in jail on
what human rights activists call phony and politically motivated charges of
causing public disorder after a one-day trial in a southern province.
The activists were accused by the authoritarian government of causing public
disorder by creating a “serious obstruction to traffic” while they were on their
way to visit a former political prisoner in February.
The People’s Court of Dong Thap province ordered prominent blogger Bui Thi Minh
Hang to be imprisoned for three years, while fellow blogger Nguyen Thi Thuy
Quynh received a two-year sentence, and Nguyen Van Minh, a Hao Hao Buddhist
sect follower, got a two-and-a-half-year term.
Police had held more than 50 supporters of the defendants in a bid to prevent
them from attending the one-day trial held amid tight security, a blogger told
RFA’s Vietnamese Service.
None of the relatives of the three activists were allowed in the courtroom
during the proceedings.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch condemned the sentences, saying the Vietnamese
government made up the charges to punish the three for their activism.
“The sentencing of these three activists to prison terms on such bogus charges
is outrageous and underscores the ease with which the government and the
[Communist] party have their way with the country’s politically controlled
courts,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, told RFA.
“Bui Thi Minh Hang and her colleagues have been railroaded into prison for
simply exercising their right to associate and assemble with other persons, and
for daring to use their voices to show solidarity for others facing persecution
at the hands of the Vietnamese government,” he said.
The verdicts did not come as a surprise to the trio’s lawyers and family
members.
“In any country that has no rule of law, a person could be found guilty for
whatever reason [the government wanted],” Ha Huy Son, one of four lawyers
representing the activists, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.
Tran Bui Trung, the son of Bui Thi Minh Hang, told RFA that he and his family
were “very disappointed” by the verdict.
Other arrests
Prior to the trial, local police were deployed around the courthouse to prevent
supporters of the three accused and other activists from attending the trial,
the human rights website Vietnam Right Now reported.
Activists in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City had been confined to their homes, while
some of those who made it to the province were arrested or locked in their
hotels.
On the eve of the trial, local police raided the hotel where Bui Thi Minh Hang’s
daughter and son-in-law were staying and confiscated their national
identification cards in an attempt to prevent them from attending the trial, the
report said.
The U.S. government expressed alarm over the jailing.
“The use of public disorder laws by Vietnamese authorities to imprison
government critics for peacefully expressing their political views is alarming,”
the U.S. embassy in Hanoi said in a statement Tuesday, calling for the
unconditional release of all political prisoners.
Approximately 150 to 200 activists and bloggers are serving prison time in
Vietnam simply for exercising their basic rights, activist groups say.
Although Vietnam is a member of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, it
has been criticized by international human rights groups for harassing and
jailing bloggers and government critics as well as repressing religion freedom.
Reported by An Nguyen for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Khanh
Nguyen. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.