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VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK 14550 Magnolia Street, Suite 203, Westminster, CA 92683 Tel.: (714) 897-1950; (858) 837-2152 Email: vnhr@vietnamhumanrights.net; www.vnhrnet.org
STATEMENT Concerning Recent Human Rights Violations in Vietnam
As human rights advocates, we are deeply distressed by the escalating violence in recent weeks committed or tolerated by the Hanoi administration against numerous freedom and justice activists in Vietnam. The most typically serious cases are as follows:
1/ On April 4, 2009, the police in Tra Vinh province of the Mekong delta had brutally beaten Mr Thach Thanh No, a deacon of the Khmer Christian Alliance Church to death. This sad event confirms again the repression against the Christian House Churches among ethnic minorities that has been already meticulously compiled by Human Rights Watch since long ago.
2/ Since mid-March 2009, the Hanoi administration has continuously harassed and prevented attorney Le Tran Luat from exercising his legal works in the defense of 8 defendants before the local trial court involving the land dispute at Thai Ha Catholic Church.
3/ Within a month since early March, local authorities in Hanoi have repeatedly sent bad elements to insidiously throw waste, dung, dead rats mixed with used oil 9 times against writer Tran Khai Thanh Thuy’s residence, thus intimidating this non-violent activist for the cause of freedom and justice.
Facing such atrocities, the Vietnam Human Rights Network firmly denounces and criticizes the Hanoi government for their systematic and continuous violations against the citizens who non-violently advocate justice, democracy and human rights for the people of Vietnam.
We furthermore demand that Hanoi authorities stop immediately all violent practices against the innocent people, start a serious criminal investigation on these violations and bring all culprits to an open court.
We also appeal to all Human Rights Advocacy groups all over the world to join us in our defense for the non-violent activists who are now being savagely repressed in Vietnam.
California, April 17, 2009 Nguyen Thanh Trang, President
Vietnam Human Rights Network |