February
2014
1. Hải
Phòng City Public Security disrupted the funeral of Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Lợi, mother
of Ms. Phạm Thanh Nghiên, a prisoner
of conscience (POC)
February
26, 2014.
Hải Phòng City Public Security stopped friends of Ms. Phạm
Thanh Nghiên who came to the funeral of her mother Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Lợi. Public
Security officers openly and brazenly removed the condolence ribbons from the
flower wreaths sent by civil society organizations. They disrupted the funeral
procession to the cemetery. They relented and allowed the funeral to go forward
only after the family of the deceased vehemently protested the inhumanity of
their action.
2. The Case of Ms. Bùi Thị
Minh Hằng, Ms. Nguyễn thị Thúy Quỳnh, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Minh and 18 traveling
companions.
February 11, 2014. A motorcycle traveling party consisting of Ms. Bùi Thị Minh
Hằng, Ms. Nguyễn thị Thúy Quỳnh, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Minh and 18 other people were
ambushed and attacked near Nông Trại bridge in Mỹ An Hưng hamlet, Lấp Vò
district, Đồng Tháp province. The traveling party was on its way to visit two
co-religionist, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyễn Bắc Truyển. They were victimized by Public
Security several days ago. According to the testimony of most members of the
traveling party, the number of people who attacked them was in the hundreds.
The attackers were members of Public Security Forces who disguised themselves
as hooligans. They waited for the traveling party by hiding behind the roadside
trees. When the motorcycles of the traveling party came by, they jumped out, stopped
the motorcycles, asked the riders and passengers to produce their identity
papers, and hurled provocative insults at them. In a denunciation letter dated
February 23, 2014 that Mr. Võ Văn Thanh - a religious practitioner - wrote, and
also in an Open Letter dated March 5, 2014 that Ms. Đặng Thị Quỳnh Anh - the
daughter of Mrs. Bùi Thị Minh Hằng – authored, the following was reported. When
the travelers protested, Public Security officers beat up the travelers indiscriminately
and severely with wooden sticks. As the beatings took place, some Public
Security officers photographed and videotaped them. No travelers, young or old,
male or female, were spared. The severity of the beatings caused many travelers
to bleed profusely, sustain deep and severe wounds, or pass out. Once the beatings
stopped, the attackers put their Public Security uniforms back on, took all 21
travelers to a Public Security station, and confiscated all personal items belonging the travelers.
These items were laptops, cameras, cell phones and banners. At the station, the
travelers were kept in dark and dirty cells without food for half a day before
they were released. Notable among the Public Security attackers are Captain Huỳnh
Văn Thuận, deputy Chief of Public Security for Lấp Vồ district and senior
colonel Lê Hoàng Dũng, deputy general manager of the Investigative Branch of Lấp
Vò Public Security. Senior Colonel Lê Hoàng Dũng was the one who beat Mrs. Bùi
Thị Minh Hằng most savagely. He was also the one who signed the order to
prosecute her.
On August 26, 2014, at 7PM the Đồng Tháp Appellate Court sentenced
Mrs. Bùi Thị Minh Hằng to 3 years in prison, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Minh to 2 years and
6 months, and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh to 2 years. The court prosecuted and
sentenced all three according to Point C of Article 245 of the Criminal Code, “causing a public disturbance”. All three
accused affirmed their innocence in court.
3. Stones
and filthy liquids thrown on the roof and splashed inside the family home of
Mr. Huỳnh Ngọc Tuấn.
February 11, 2014 at
7:30PM. Big stones were thrown
at a house at Cluster 1, Phú Quý hamlet, Tam Kỳ District, Quảng Nam Province.
The house belongs to Mr. Huỳnh Ngọc Tuấn, a former prisoner of conscience and a
dissident. Some of the stones broke the roof of the house and landed inside.
February 21, 2014 at
9:30PM. Public Security
officers disguised as hooligans splashed filthy and smelly liquids inside the
home of Mr. Huỳnh Ngọc Tuấn. When the splashing attack occurred, three grown
children of Mr. Tuấn, Ms. Huỳnh Thục Vy,
Mr. Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu and Ms. Huỳnh Khánh Vy, were visiting him. Also inside the
house at the time of the attack were an elderly lady and two children. They
were both under one year old.
Attacks by stone throwing and splashing of filthy and smelly
liquids that targeted the homes of democracy and human rights activists happened
all over the country in 2014. So far, not a single one of these attacks was
investigated even when the victims duly reported them to Public Security.
March
2014
1. Public Security
Forces conducted illegal search and seizure and infringed on the human rights
of teacher Huỳnh Xuân Mai, a resident of An Thới Đông hamlet, Cái Bè district,
Tiền Giang province.
March 8, 2014, 9 AM. Public Security officers
from the hamlet, district and province where teacher Huỳnh Xuân Mai resided
raided her home and also the An Thới Đông Regional High School where she was
working. They searched and seized her laptop without a court order. Two officers from Tiền Giang Provincial Public Security
took her laptop to the hamlet’s People’s Commission Office and forced Ms. Mai
to go along with them. She was kept there and wasn’t allowed to go home until
about 11AM. Later in the afternoon, the same officers came to her home and forced
her to go back to the hamlet’s People Commission Office for yet another “working
session”, an euphemism for police interrogation. It wasn’t until 8PM that she
was allowed to go home with a certificate stating that no contents harmful to
national security were found on her laptop. Two Public Security officers then escorted
her back to home. There, they decided to confiscate her cell phone for “further
investigation”. They stayed inside her home until 11PM, when she had to chase
them away for decency’s sake as it was very late.
2. Human right activist
Trần Thị Nga assaulted.
March 23, 2014. Officers from Public
Security and the secret service as well as street hooligans subdued and
arrested Ms. Trần Thị Nga and her friends as they were waiting to take a bus to
go to the shores of the Lake of Returned Sword in Hà Nội. Ms. Nga and her
friends had planned to go these shores to demonstrate in support of the son of
Mrs. Bùi Thị Minh Hằng. He was fighting for justice for his mother and two
other persons, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Minh and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh. The three of
them were unjustly arrested in a incident that Public Security of Lấp Vò, Đồng
Tháp staged on February 11, 2014.
Ms. Nga was subdued and taken by car to a Public Security station
located in Quang Trung ward, Đống Đa district. There, she was beaten, insulted,
and bodily searched to find out whether she had any camera and/or recording
devices on her. Public Security personnel made a video of her mistreatment at the
station.
Public Security officer Lê Mạnh Tuấn (his serial number is 121-641)
and two other plain clothed officers conducted the body search and sexually
molested Mrs. Trần Thị Nga. They twisted her arms painfully to get her
fingerprints affixed on reports that Public Security prepared themselves and
without her knowledge or consent. The contents of these reports were not true.
Ms. Trần Thị Nga was eventually taken to Phủ Lý city in Hà Nam
province. There, Mr. Vũ Hồng Phương, deputy chief of Public Security of Phủ Lý
city personally oversaw his men brutalize and twist her arms again. They did so
because they wanted to have her fingerprints affixed on documents that Public
Security created. Mrs. Ms. Trần Thị Nga had no knowledge of the contents of these
documents.
3. Believers in the
Traditional Hòa Hảo Buddhist Faith repressed.
March
21, 2014. About 300 officers from Public Security of Chợ Mới
district and An Giang city stormed the home or Mr. Nguyễn Văn Vinh, a believer
in the Traditional Hòa Hảo Buddhist Faith. Led by Mr. Nguyễn Văn Mỹ, Deputy
Chief of Public Security of Chợ Mới district, the officers beat up anyone they
could find in the home, ransacked it, and even took away some of the household
goods. The beatings caused many to pass out from their injuries. When the beatings
and the rampage ended, they arrested everyone found inside the home. Among
those arrested were relatives and members of Mr. Nguyễn Văn Vinh’s family, other believers
who were on the premise to help out and even those who had passed out. The
attack just described occurred on the day when
believers in the Traditional Hòa Hảo Buddhist Faith assembled to prepare
for the annual memorial service that marks the day when His Highness Huỳnh Phú
Sổ, or “Patriarch Huỳnh” was victimized.
Among those severely injured
during the assault were Mrs. Võ Thị Rắm, 82, and Ms. Nguyễn Ngọc Hà. Mrs. Rắm
had to be hospitalized. Ms. Hà, who had a heart condition, was pinned down on
the ground and repeated punched and kicked. After she passed out from the
beating, Public Security personnel loaded her in a car, drove to a place near
her home, and pushed her out onto the pavement.
April
2014
1.
Ms. Anna Huyền Trang, anchor of the “Cà Phê Tối” (“Nighttime Coffee”) program
of Vietnam Redemptorist’s News (VRN) internet Radio/TV station, was harassed
and forbidden to leave the country.
April
14, 2014, at 9PM. Ms. Anna Huyền Trang was assaulted and
arrested at Tân Sơn Nhất airport as she was preparing to board a plane bound
for the US. A member of the Congress of the United States of America had
invited her to come to the US to participate in a hearing on freedom of the press
in Vietnam. The hearing will be held in the Lower House of the US Congress.
Public Security officer Vũ Văn Ái led the assault and arrest. He confiscated
her passport and forbade her to board the plane. He didn’t produce any official
order or paperwork that would authorize him to prevent her from leaving the
country. Ms. Anna Huyền Trang submitted a complaint to and initiated a lawsuit at
the Ho Chi Minh City’s Court on September 30, 2014. On October 9, 2014, the Court
returned to her all the documents she submitted related to her complaint and
lawsuit. The Court did so with prejudice by pointing out where she didn’t
follow the proper procedures. The Court’s intention was to deny her the
opportunity to submit a lawsuit.
2.
Hanoi city government accused protesters from Dương Nội of disturbing the
public peace and resisting arrest. It also unleashed Public Security officers and
hoodlums to beat up, arrest, and send these protesters to prison.
April
22, 2014. Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ngân and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Toàn – two Unjustly
Dispossessed Persons, i.e., people whose land and/or home was unjustly taken
away or requisitioned by the government – were arrested. Subsequently, the
Court sentenced these two women to 6 months in jail. They were released as
expected on October 22, 2014.
April
25, 2014. the government used Public Security officers, hoodlums,
and a truck outfitted with a crane that sprayed an anesthetic mist to cause Mrs.
Cấn Thị Thêu to faint in order to arrest her. Mrs. Thêu was an Unjustly
Dispossessed Person. At the time of her arrest, she was filming and
photographing the vicious attacks that Public Security officers and hoodlums
armed with deadly weapons were unleashing on her husband and many other people.
These people were demonstrating to stop the government from taking over the
land they used for production. Arrested on the same day as Mrs. Cấn Thị Thêu
and her husband were Mr. Trịnh Bá Khiêm and Mr. Lê Văn Thanh. On September 19, 2014, the court sentenced Mrs.
Thêu to 15 months in prison, Mr. Khiêm to 18 months, and Mr. Thanh to 12
months.
3.
Members of Vietnamese Women for Human Rights beaten and detained.
April
22, 2014. Two representatives of the Vietnamese Women for Human
Rights, a civil society organization, Mrs. Trần Thị Hài and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc
Lụa, were severely beaten and then detained for several hours by Public
Security officers and hooligans. The
beating took place a short while after the two women left the Cần Thơ Appellate
Court. They were there to attend the final trial of two Unjustly Dispossessed
Persons, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Tuyền and Nguyễn Thị Ánh Nguyệt.
4.
Two Unjustly Dispossessed Persons, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Tuyền and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ánh
Nguyệt, sent to prison for their opposition to government land seizure.
April
22, 2014, morning. Cần Thơ City Appellate Court tried the
above named Unjustly Dispossessed Persons and sentenced Ms. Nguyệt to 3 years
in jail and Ms. Tuyền to 2 years (a reduction from the 2 ½ year sentence given
out the Court of First Instance). We may recall that these two women owned land
at the Cờ Đỏ (“Red Flag”) Farm Cooperative that was unjustly requisitioned by
the government.
May
2014
1.
Hà Nội Public Security arrested Mr. Nguyễn Hữu Vinh (aka “Ba Sàm”) and Mrs. Nguyễn
Thị Minh Thúy.
May
5, 2014. Hà Nội’s Public Security issued and executed and
emergency search and then carried out an emergency arrest warrant targeting Mr.
Nguyễn Hữu Vinh, also known as blogger “Ba Sàm”. Arrested along with Mr. Vinh
was Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Minh Thúy. She was a former employee of Mr. Vinh at the
private company he founded, Investigation & Protection, LLC. She was also
the web administrator of the https://anhbasam.wordpress.com/
website since 2012.
On October 30, the public
security division of the Ministry of Public Security released a report
summarizing its findings in the case of “Nguyễn Hữu Vinh and associates who
took advantage of freedom and democracy rights to infringe on the interests of
the state, the rights and the benefits of the organizations and the citizenry”,
according to Article 258 of the Criminal Code.
2.
Đồng Nai Public Security arrested Lê Thị Phương Anh, Phạm Minh Vũ and Nguyễn
Trung Nghĩa.
May
15, 2014. The three persons named above were arrested when they
visited and took photographs of the areas where violence erupted a few days
ago. At this point in time, their families have yet to receive any official
announcements related to their arrests. Public Security officials told the
families that these three persons were arrested and that they will be duly
prosecuted according to Article 258 of the Criminal Code.
3.
Public Security officers ordered by the government to arrest demonstrators who
protested peacefully the illegal presence of Chinese oil drilling rig HD981
inside territorial waters of Vietnam.
May
18, 2014. In
Sài Gòn, Hà Nội and Nghệ An, Public Security brutally repressed, arrested, and
detained for many hours people who participated in peaceful demonstrations to protest
the presence of Chinese oil drilling rig HD981 inside Vietnamese territorial
waters. Some of the demonstrators were also beaten while detained at Public
Security stations. Those arrested included:
In
Hà Nội: Trần Thị Nga, students Lê Đức Hiền, Vũ Mạnh Hùng, Dương
Thị Xuân and Đỗ Văn Ngọc and facebookers Dustin Bý and Lý Quang Sơn.
In
Sài Gòn: Blogger Trịnh Anh Tuấn, Nguyễn Ngọc Lụa, Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu,
Vanda Lâm – a student at the Medical and Pharmacy University and facebookers
August Anh and Thế Lữ.
In
Nghệ An: Lê Văn Nhàn, Hồ
Huy Khang, Nguyễn Đức Quốc, Nguyễn Văn Huân, Nguyễn Hoài Thu, Nguyễn Năng Tĩnh,
Lê Thị Hương and Chân Thành.
4.
Two members of the Vietnamese Women For Human Rights civil society organization
arrested by plain-clothed Public Security officers and detained in Tuyên Quang
province.
May
27, 2014. Ms. Huỳnh Phương Ngọc and Ms. Nguyễn Ngọc Lụa had planned
to attend, as representives of the Vietnamese Women for Human Rights (VWFHR)
civil societyorganization, the public
and final trial of MM. Lư Văn Linh, Dương Văn Tu and Thào Quán Mua. These men,
all ethnic Hmong’s, were accused of “taking advantage of freedom and democracy
rights to infringe on the interests of the state, the rights and the benefits
of the organizations and the citizenry.” However, Public Security and secret
service abducted these two women at 9AM as they were entering the Appellate Court
House. The women were taken to a Public Security station in Tuyên Quang. There,
they were interrogated until 2AM and
then driven by car to Hà Nội and released.
5.
Leaflets with a message that targeted
Mrs. Tran Thị Nga for murder was found in the area near her home. A couple of
days later, hooligans hunted her down and knee-capped her.
May
22-24, 2014. Leaflets where found near the home of Mrs.
Trần Thị Nga. Written on these leaflets are threats to kill her. She reported
these leaflets to the local Public Security station. Public security conducted
a cursory search of area where the leaflets were found...
May
35, 2014 at 4PM. Mrs.
Trần Thị Nga and her two sons, an 18-month old toddler and a 4 year-old boy
were passengers on a motorcycle-for-hire on their way to the Giáp Bát Bus Depot
in Hà Nội. Suddenly, 6 young men rushed out pushed the motorcycle down and
struck Mrs. Nga on her arms and body with the steel tubes. She fled into a
nearby store. The attackers ran after her. They dispersed when a man inside the
store tried to stop them. But then, as Mrs. Nga ran back outside to collect her
two children, all five attackers rushed back and struck her again with the
steel tubes. This time, they targeted and succeeded in breaking her knee
caps. Mrs. Trần Thị Nga recognized one
of the assailants. He had followed her from Hà Nam earlier in the morning when
she boarded a bus there to go to Hà Nội.
Mrs. Trần Thị Nga submitted
numerous denunciation/complaint letters to Public Security. None of these were
acted on. Indeed, after he reviewed Mrs. Trần Thị Nga’s case files and the
proofs she provided, Mr. Nguyễn Duy Thuần, a cadre at the Supreme Procuracy,
the highest authority in the land when it comes to prosecuting crimes, stated
flatly: “I don’t care about the proofs you provide. I won’t accept your
petition because if you fight for human rights then the government and Public
Security have every right to beat you up.”
After repeated efforts, on
October 23, 2014 the Public Security office in Thanh Try district decided to
open an investigation of the assault. This investigation was the required first
step in bringing the case to court. Currently, the office is having problems
identifying the people who assaulted Mrs. Trần Thị Nga, although she already
provided videos and photos that clearly showed the faces of the persons who
attacked her and her children.
July
2014
1.
Members of Vietnamese Women for Human Rights and the Blogger Network prevented
from attending a conference at the Embassy of Australia in Hà Nội.
July
30, 2014. A large contingent of Public Security officers came to
the rest house where two female members of the Vietnamese Women for Human
Rights organization where staying. The officers prevented these two women from
attending a workshop on “Non Governmental Freedom of Communications In the
Current Period” at the Embassy of Australia.
In Nha Trang, Public
Security also prevented a member of The Blogger Network, Ms. Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh,
from attending the same workshop. They stopped
her at the airport and detained her for several hours.
In Hà Nội, Public Security
officers surrounded and threatened to arrest Ms. Phạm Thanh Nghiên, also a
member of the Blogger Network, as she was leaving the workshop. The staff of
the Embassy of Australia intervened and successfully helped her get home
safely.
2.
Public Security of Vĩnh An, Đồng Nai province “underwrote” land grab.
July
1-3, 2014. Members of Public Security and People’s
Guard from the township of Vĩnh An, Vĩnh
Cửu District, Đồng Nai province “underwrote” the beating that Mr. Lê Văn Liễn inflicted
on Mrs. Hoàng Thị Huệ. Mrs. Huệ’s face was swollen from the beating delivered
by Mr. Liễn himself. Her injuries was so severe that she required hospitalization
for about a month. Public Security also
did nothing as Mr. Liễn’s henchmen destroyed the vegetable patches that Mrs. Huệ
planted on a field that she inherited from her parents and had continuously cultivated
since 1975.
The sons of Mrs. Huệ, MM. Đặng
Ngọc Hiếu and Đặng Ngọc Tú, resisted and fought back during the attack. They
injured two assailants. One of them sustained injuries classified at 1%; the
other, at 3%. The court sentenced MM. Hiếu and Tú to 5 months in jail each
according to Article 104 of the Criminal Code, “to inflict injuries
intentionally”. Each one of them were also fined VND 34,683,785 piasters (about
USD 1,621).
After her release from the
hospital, Mrs. Huệ submitted a complaint to Public Security. The complaint
detailed how Public Security “underwrote” the severe beating that Mr. Liển personally
inflicted on her. Public Security refused to accept her complaint.
3.
Public Security of Ward 1, Gò Vấp “looked the other way” when land grabbers
beat up land owners to take over the land.
July
6, 2014. Mr. Nguyễn Ngọc Minh sent hooligans to deliver
construction materials to a tract of land reserved for burial and on which the Lư
family had their home. The Lư’s say thay owned the tract of land, but who
actually owns it is still unclear. For several years the ownership of the land was,
and still is, in litigation. When the
hooligans came, the Lư’s came out also and tried to stop the delivery of
construction materials. They were beaten up.
Two members of the Lư
family, Mrs. Lư Thị Thu Thủy and Mrs. Lư Thị Thu Vân called Public Security officials.
They asked them to come out to the site to observe and investigate. The
officials came, saw what happened, but didn’t resolve anything.
August
2014
1.
Public Security of Đồng Tháp province arrested and detained attendees of the
trial of Mrs. Bùi Thị Minh Hằng, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh, and Mr. Nguyễn Văn
Minh.
August
25-26, 2014. Public Security of Đồng Tháp province
arrested and detained for hours numerous people who attended the aforementioned
trial. Those detained included women and young children. Some of the children
were barely a few months old. All were detained until around midnight and then taken
to Sài Gòn by bus. Public Security officers beat up Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Lụa, a
member of Vietnamese Women for Human Rights, right inside their station. She
was beaten so severely that she needed hospitalization.
September
2014
1.
Airport security prevented Ms. Đỗ Thị Minh Hạnh for leaving the country.
September
3, 2014. As Ms. Hạnh was going through customs prior to boarding a
plane that would take her to Austria to visit her sick mother, Public Security
stopped and detained her for 13 hours. No report was made of her detention. Ms.
Hạnh was then taken to the center of downtown Hà Nội and dropped off.
September
8, 2014. Ms. Hạnh, along with Mr. Trương Minh Đức, Mr. Trương
Văn Dũng, and Mrs. Trần Thị Nga drove to the Office of the Security Division of
the Ministry of Public Security. They wanted to inquire about the reasons why Ms.
Hạnh wasn’t allowed to leave the country. As their car made its way to the
Office, a group of young men stopped the car, broke its door, pulled Mr. Trương
Minh Đức out, and together beat him up.
2.
The government of Từ Sơn District, Bắc Ninh Province, repressed and arrested
Unjustly Dispossessed People.
September
4, 2014. A court tried 12 Unjustly Dispossessed Persons from Trịnh
Nguyễn area and charged them with the crime of creating a public disturbance.
These Unjustly Dispossessed
Persons were fighting peacefully for two objectives. First, they wanted to keep
the land they owned. Second, they wanted the government to relocate a waste
water treatment plant planned for their area to another area far away from
their home. Such a move would minimize the negative impact the plant might have
on their health and their ability to earn a living. The government’s response
was to repress them brutally. Officers from Public Security and the People’s
Guard and hooligans attacked the area. They bloodied and injured many of the
people from Trịnh Nguyễn. They arrested many people. Most of the injured were
women and children.
One of the injured was Mrs.
Đỗ Thị Thêm. She was the victim of an acid splashing attack. Those who splashed
acid on her were arrested. However, a year has gone by and the government still
hasn’t done anything about the case.
The 12 Unjustly Dispossessed
Persons who were sentenced were:
- Ms. Đỗ Thị Thiêm, Mr. Đỗ
Văn Quý and Mr. Đỗ Văn Hào - Each
received 28 months in jail.
- Ms. Ngô Thị Toan, Ms. Đặng
Thị Mỳ and Ms. Ngô Thị Như (she is deaf and illiterate) - Each received 26
months in jail.
- Ms. Ngô Thị Đức and Mr. Đặng
Văn Nhu - Each received 28 months of probation.
- Ms. Đỗ Thị Thiêm (she is
another Ms. Thiêm, her other first name is Trinh), Ms. Nguyễn Thị Chiến, Ms. Vũ
Thị Thảo and Ms. Ngô Thị Thoa - Each
received 36 months of probation.
3.
Public Security of Tân Bình District, Sài Gòn, repressed and terrorized several
citizens.
September
5, 2014. To prevent members of civil societies from attending a
civil meeting at a Redemptorist Church, Officers from Public Security and the
People’s Guard of Ward 14, Tân Bình District raided a house at 305/16 Trường
Chinh Street, brutally repressed and arrested everyone who resided there. Those
arrested were then taken to a Public Security station and detained there for
several hours. They were then fined as follows:
1. Mr. Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu
received a fine of VND 2,650,000.00.
2. Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Ánh Ngân
(wife of Mr. Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu) received a fine of VND 2,650,000.00.
3. Ms. Bùi Thị Nhung
received a fine of VND 2,650,000.00.
4. Ms. Huỳnh Phương Ngọc
received a fine of VND 2,850,000.00.
5. Trần Thị Thu Nguyệt received
a fine of VND 2,850,000.00.
All five persons listed above
protested the Administrative Decision Mr. Tuấn, chairman of the People’s
Commission, issued to fine them. They accused Mr. Tuấn and Public Security of
acting contrary to existing laws and regulations when they sent Public Security
officers out to invade their home illegally and then detain them arbitrarily.
Later, pretending to deliver
and serve the Administrative Decision to the above five people, officers from
Public Security repeatedly came to the house at 305/16 Trường Chinh Street to harass
them over and over again.
October
2014
1.
Public Security harassed Ms. Huỳnh Thục Vy, a dissident blogger and an member
of the Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Women For Human Rights
organization.
September
7, 2014. Two Public Security officials from Thống Nhất Hamlet, Buôn
Hồ district, Dak Lak province, came to the house where she stayed. They served
her an Order to report to the local Public Security stationto explain why she
was staying temporarily with her husband at his home.
October
2, 2014: Two members of Dak Lak Public Security came to the home
of Ms. Huỳnh Thục Vy. They demanded her to explain her participation in civil
society organizations.
2.
Hooligans ransacked the rental home of where the family of a dissident blogger,
Mr. Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu, resided.
October
10, 2014. On two separate occasions, hooligans broke down
the doors, rushed in and ransacked the rental room where Mr. Huỳnh Trọng Hiếu,
his wife Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Ánh Ngân, and his son 9-month old son Côn Bằng were living.
The hooligans did so to make good on the threats Public Security officers made when they came to serve Mr.Hiếu and Mrs. Ngân the
Administrative Orders that fined them back in September 5, 2014.
3.
Hanoi’s Public Security repressed, arrested and jailed Unjustly Dispossessed
Persons who petitioned for relief against the illegal seizure of their homes
and land.
In Hanoi, Unjustly
Dispossessed Persons from all three regions of Vietnam – North, Central, and
South – continued to submit claims regarding the seizure of their land and
homes. Typically, Public Security forces would arrest or detain them for a long
time without food or water. Many would also be taken to court and tried for
“resisting an officer in the process of carrying out his official duty.”
October
22, 2014: Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Toàn and Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Ngân, both Unjustly
Dispossessed Persons from Dương Nội, were sentenced to 6 months in jail for
“disturbing the public peace” and “resisting an officer in the process of
carrying out his official duty.” Upon their release, these two women denounced
the cruel and inhuman treatment they received while in the custody of Public
Security. Specifically, they were, along with Mrs. Cấn Thị Thêu, another
Unjustly Dispossessed Person, kept in a cell with two HIV victims in the last
stages of the disease and with lesions all over their bodies.
October
28, 2014: The Thanh Oai District People’s Court had to postpone
its session for the 4th time because the accused, Ms. Nguyễn Thị
Lan, fainted numerous times in the courtroom. Ms. Lan had a heart condition yet
Public Security personnel bashed her head repeatedly during her arrest and
detention. Three other Unjustly Dispossessed Persons were tried along with Ms.
Lan on that day. They were: Mr. Vũ Văn Huề, 23, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Hà, 26, and Mr.
Lê Văn Vượng, 45.
4.
The family of Pastor Nguyễn Công Chính harassed and terrorized.
October
28-30, 2014. During the October 20-30, 2014 period, the
wife – Mrs. Trần Thị Hồng - and children of Pastor Nguyễn Công Chính were
continuously harassed and terrorized by Public Security and secret service
agents.
The harassment and terrorism
Mrs. Hồng and her 5 young children endured while living at Cluster 10, CMT8
Street, Hoa Lư ward, Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province were numerous and beyond the
pale. Public Security agents and/or secret service agents used steel wires to tie
up all the doors of the house so that no one could open them and get in or out.
On October 29, they climbed on the roof of the house to spy on the activities
of the family. They regularly followed closely and threatened Mrs. Hồng as she
walked her young children to school. They arbitrarily stopped and searched the book bag of her adopted son as he walked
to his high school (he is an 11th grader). They prevented Mr. Hồng
from visiting her husband. Once, they stopped her and seized her cell phone as
she was on her way to visit her husband in prison camp.
We may recall that Pastor
Chính was arrested on April 28, 2011 and sentenced to 11 years in jail. His
alleged crime was “acting against the government of Vietnam and fomenting
division among the various classes within the population” as stipulated in
Article 87 of the Criminal Code. Since his arrest and confinement in a prison
camp, pastor Chính was relentlessly persecuted.
November
2014
1. Public Security Forces illegally stopped and
arrested participants in a discussion on legal rights and the judicial process
in the context of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Vietnam at the
Embassy of Canada on November 4, 2014.
November
4, 2014 at 9:30AM. Members of Public Security and Secret
Services of Hanoi and Hà Nam arrested Ms. Trần Thị Nga just as she stepped off
a taxi in front of the Embassy of Canada in Hanoi. She was taken to the office
of Phủ Lý city Public Security in Hà Nam province and detained there until 3PM.
November
3, 2014. Public Security of Khánh Hòa province stopped Ms. Nguyễn
Ngọc Như Quỳnh (a well-known blogger who
goes by the name “Mẹ Nấm or “Mother Mushroom”) as she was making her way to
Cam Ranh airport to go to Hanoi and arrested her. She was then taken to the
office of Khánh Hòa Public Security. There, her personal identification papers
were confiscated. She wasn’t allowed to leave the stattion until around
midnight. Previously at around 11AM on the same day, Public Security had issued
an order demanding that she report to the station to explain a petition she had
submitted on October 21, 2014. In that petition, she had asked Public Security
to explain “the confiscation and holding of a citizen’s property” and demanded
the return of cell phone, personal identification papers and other items. Khánh
Hòa Public Security had arbitrarily taken the above items from her when they
abducted her on July 29, 2014.
2.
Public Security Forces repressed family members of a death row prisoner who is
appealing his case.
November
26, 2014 at 10AM. Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Loan and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ruỡi,
mother and aunt of death row inmate Hồ Duy Hải were beaten, repressed, arrested
and taken away when they came to the National Assembly to submit a petition. In
their petition, the women asked that the Mr. Hải’s death sentence be suspended
pending a fuller and more complete investigation of his alleged crime. The
ground for this requests was there were sufficient evidence to cast very serious
doubts on whether Mr. Hải was fairly accused,
judged, and sentenced.
3.
The People’s Reception Hall at No. 1, Ngô Thì Nhậm Street, doesn’t resolve
claims and repress people who submitted claims.
November
4, 2014. At the People’s Reception Hall at No. 1 Ngô Thì Nhậm
Street, Đoàn Trương Anh Thư, an 11 year-old boy, had his throat grasped by a
Public Security officer while Mrs. Trương Thị Huệ, an Unjustly Dispossessed
Person from Tiền Giang, was beaten unconscious. Their mistreatment is typical.
Cadres at the Hall receive the people who came there in a cursory manner. Now
and then, they order officers from Public Security and the People’s Guard and their
security guards to beat up people who submitted claims.
December
2014
1.
Public Security harassed a group of believers of the Traditional Hòa Hảo Buddhist Faith.
December
2, 2014, morning. Public Security and secret service agents
followed, videotaped, and harassed a group of believers in the Traditional Hòa
Hảo Buddhist Faith traveling on motorcycles. The group came from An Giang
province. The purpose of their trip was twofold. First, they wanted to visit the mother of a martyr of the Faith,
Mr. Trần Văn Út. She resides in Định Yên hamlet, Lấp Vồ district, Đồng Tháp
province. Second, they wanted to attend the 72th birthday party of Mr. Lê Văn
Chính, a senior member of the Faith. He lives
in Tân Bình hamlet, Bình Tân district, Vĩnh Long province.
2.
Blogger Nguyễn Hoàng Vy beaten up in Sài Gòn.
December
9, 2014. As she was walking back to her home, a group of young men
and women stopped blogger Nguyễn Hoàng Vy, grabbed her hair, and punched her
repeatedly. Dozens of people, including Public Security officers, stood in
front of her house and watched her getting beat up. None intervened.
3.
Public Security repressed and arrested people attending the second and final
trial of Mrs. Bùi Thị Minh Hằng, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quỳnh, and Mr. Nguyễn Văn
Minh at the Court of Appeal.
December
12, 2014. Outside of the gate of the Court of Appeal, officers
from Public Security, the People’s Guards, and the secret service beat up and
arrested anyone who came to the courthouse trying to attend the trial of the
above named persons. Several witnesses called by the Court were prevented from
entering the courthouse to testify.
4.
Hải Phòng Public Security burned down the hut of Unjustly Dispossessed Person
Nguyễn Thị Thúy.
December
22, 2014. The government of Đằng Giang ward, Ngô Quyền district, Hải
Phòng province mobilized a large contingent of Public Security officers and
hooligans to surround the hut where Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Thúy and her eight young children
were living. They wanted to frighten Mrs. Thúy and her children away. The hut
was build on the remaining foundation of the house Mrs. Thúy owned and that the
government had arbitrarily demolished in 2011 in order to requisition the land.
Mrs. Thúy and her children were determined to stay inside the hut. They used
gasoline containers and gas tanks to defend their home. Their determination
convinced the attackers to back off.
December
23, 2014, at 9:45PM. Hooligans under orders from the government
threw Molotov cocktails into the hut when Mrs. Thúy and her eight young
children were inside. The hut burned down almost to the ground. Luckily Mrs. Thúy
and all of her children were able to run out of the hut just in time to escape
serious harms.
5.
Numerous unjust and erroneous death sentences surfaced and aroused the concern
of public opinion regarding forced confessions during the criminal investigation
process.
The most notable ones among
the death sentences handed out to death row inmates Hồ Duy Hải and Nguyễn Văn
Chưỡng. Mr. Hải was alleged to have killed two people in Long An. Mr. Chưởng was
alleged to have participated in a robbery-murder in Hải Phòng on the night of
July 14, 2007. In both cases, there were indications that injustice and
judicial errors were committed, and that forced confessions were used during
the investigative process. Relatives of these two death row inmates are now
asking that their cases be reviewed to bring about justice for them.
Report written by
Mrs. Trần Thị Nga
Member, The Directing Board
Vietnamese Women for Human Rights
------------------------
