Vietnamese
Dissident Attacked in Hanoi
Tra Mi - VOA
February 24, 2014
A
high-profile Vietnamese dissident and his wife say they were brutally attacked
by police Monday while they were enroute to a meeting with the Australian
Embassy to discuss Vietnam’s human rights.
Nguyen Bac Truyen says in an interview with VOA's Vietnamese service that he and
his wife were ambushed outside the Japanese Embassy Monday.
“I was attacked by four plainclothes policemen on my way ... to the Australian
embassy. ... These men had been following me closely since I arrived at Hanoi.
They suddenly stopped our taxi and attacked us without saying a word. They
punched me and my wife on the face and brutally beat us," said Truyen.
The activist says he recognized two of the attackers because they had been
following him since his arrival in Hanoi last week.
Photos published by Truyen on his Facebook page showed he was bleeding with a
head injury, broken nose and swollen eyes. The couple managed to arrive at the
Australian Embassy and the meeting took place as expected. They were then taken
to a nearby hospital by Australian embassy personnel.
Vietnamese police in Hanoi have not commented on the allegations made by Truyen.
He says he is in Hanoi to campaign for more international pressure on Vietnam to
improve its human rights record.
He is scheduled to meet with officials at the U.S., EU, German and Swedish
embassies in the next two days.
"We’d like to alert the world that when discussing political, economic or human
rights issues with Vietnamese leaders, please make sure to have effective
measures and pressure to make them respect human rights. Please be careful when
shaking hands with the Vietnamese leaders since their hands are bloodied with
violence against their own people," he said.
Earlier this month, police raided his home in southern Dong Thap province and
violently dragged him away. He was released the next day in Ho Chi Minh City.
Truyen was freed from prison in 2010 after a three-and-a-half-year jail term for
‘anti-state propaganda,’ for criticizing the government and calling for
democracy in Vietnam.
This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Vietnamese service.