A working group of the UN Human Rights Council has issued an opinion on the case of a Vietnamese activist arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “anti-state propaganda”, saying his detention was arbitrary.
Do Nam Trung, 41, was sentenced in December 2021 to 10 years in prison for “disseminating anti-state materials” under Article 117 of the Vietnam Penal Code, frequently used by authorities to restrict freedom of expression and opinions deemed critical of the communist party state Sole Vietnam or government leaders. The activist is known for his work promoting freedom of expression, human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
Trung had been involved in various social movements and had spoken out against official corruption in posts on his Facebook page. He had also posted criticism of the build-operate-transfer highways Vietnam has adopted in recent years, prompting rare protests over tolling that many motorists viewed as unfair.
Authorities arrested Trung in July 2021 in Hanoi while he was driving to work. At the time, some two dozen police officers searched her home, disabled phone and Internet connections, and confiscated memory cards, business cards, and driver’s licenses.
in the 11 pages report dated March 9 and recently made public, the Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered Trung’s detention arbitrary because his “conduct falls within the right to freedom of opinion and expression protected by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil Rights”. and Political Rights”.
The group also stressed that no trial should have taken place.
The working group requested that the government immediately remedy Trung’s situation and bring it into line with relevant international standards, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It also urged Hanoi to ensure a full and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Trung’s arbitrary deprivation of liberty and take appropriate action against those responsible for violating his rights.
In June 2022, the working group asked Hanoi to provide detailed information on Trung’s situation and to clarify the legal provisions justifying his continued detention, as well as their compatibility with the country’s obligations under international human rights law. .
The Vietnamese government requested an extension last August, but did not submit a response before the September 15 deadline. He sent a late response on October 4, which the Working Group said it could not accept because it did not arrive on time.
The working group has given the Vietnamese government six months to respond to the current opinion.
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The development comes as Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued its World Press Freedom Index 2023, which ranks Vietnam 178 out of 180 countries, down four places from last year. The group said Vietnam, whose traditional media is state-controlled, is the third-biggest jailer of journalists.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told Radio Free Asia that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had done “an excellent job of rejecting all the Vietnamese government’s weak reasons for Do Nam Trung’s detention. and by giving clear cause for Trung’s immediate release.
“Once again, the disparity between international human rights conventions and Vietnamese law is fully exposed,” Robertson said in an email. “Vietnam is carrying out a widespread crackdown on political activists and completely disregarding all human rights principles.
A journalist in Vietnam, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told RFA that authorities have subjected independent journalists and writers to a fierce crackdown, sentencing them under vaguely worded articles under the 2015 Penal Code and the Cybersecurity Law, which entered into force. in 2019.
“It seems that the Vietnamese government ignores all international criticism of its human rights violations,” the journalist said.
Vietnam’s permanent delegation to the United Nations in Geneva issued a response on March 24 to a November 2022 request from the UN human rights agency’s Special Procedures Branch about the arbitrary arrests of nine activists, including Trung. .
The authorities convicted them for spreading false information and abusing the right to freedom of expression and democracy to distort and defame the government. Hanoi said the arrests, detention and sentences were in compliance with Vietnamese law and the country’s international human rights commitments.
In January, Vietnam began a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council, despite objections from human rights groups that the country should have been excluded because of its dismal rights record.
Translated by Anna Vu for Vietnamese FRG. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
