Vietnam arrests four more dissidents

 

 

AFP

2/13/2012

 

Vietnam has arrested four more men linked to an organisation accused of plotting to overthrow the communist government, state media said Monday.

Nine other members of the group, including their alleged leader, were arrested last week after raids on a secret rural command centre in central Phu Yen province, police said at the time.

All 13 men are being held while they are investigated for "abusing freedom and democratic rights to violate state interests", the Lao Dong newspaper said quoting Phu Yen police. It did not say when the latest arrests were made.

Authorities said last week that the organisation, called Hoi Dong Cong Luat Cong An Bia Son in Vietnamese, operated "non-violently" but aimed to topple the current administration.

Rights campaigners say the accusation that a group is conspiring to overthrow the state is regularly used to silence dissidents in authoritarian Vietnam, where the communist party limits political debate.

The organisation was set up in 1975 and has, in recent years, been operating from a secret command base in the Da Bia eco tourism park in Phu Yen province, police said last week, according to the VNA news agency.

The group is said to have established a number of associations in cities and provinces across Vietnam and gathered more than 300 members, including overseas Vietnamese, police said.

According to the Phap Luat, a daily Vietnamese-language paper, on Monday the Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang congratulated Phu Yet police and offered them a 50 million dong ($2,400) bonus for the arrests.

He also encouraged them to extend their investigation into the group and to bring the case to trial as soon as possible.

 

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