Three bloggers sentenced to heavy prison terms

New information

VNM 001/ 0212 / OBS 018.2

Sentencing / Unfair trial / Arbitrarydetention

Viet Nam

September 27, 2012

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme ofthe International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Viet Nam.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the VietnamCommittee on Human Rights (VCHR) about the heavy sentences pronounced againstMr. Nguyen Van Hai (alias Dieu Cay), Founder of the Clubof Free Journalists and prominent blogger, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. TaPhong Tan,bloggers and members of the Club of Free Journalists.

According to the information received, on September24, 2012, the Supreme People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Mr. Dieu Cayto twelve years' imprisonment and five years' probationary detention, Ms. Ta Phong Tan to ten years' imprisonmentand five years' probation and Mr. PhanThanh Hai to four year'simprisonment and three years' probation on charges of “conducting propagandaagainst the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam” under Article 88 of the CriminalCode for posting articles on their blogs that supposedly “distorted and opposedthe State”.

The trial was marred by grave proceduralirregularities that blatantly contravene fair trial standards. First of all,the trial failed to comply with the right to a public hearing as provided forby Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR). Quite on the contrary, the trial was closed to the public as bloggersand Mr. Dieu Cay's family were prevented from attending it. Hundreds ofSecurity Police members intercepted, beat and/or arrested dissidents andbloggers who intended to access the court. At least 12 bloggers were taken intocustody: Bui Thi Minh Hang, Trinh Kiem Tien, Nguyen Ho Nhat, Nguyen Thi Phuong,Nguyen Hoang Vi, Nguyen Tien Nam, Nguyen Van Dung, Pham Quoc Tuan, law student TrinhAnh Tuan, Huynh Cong Thuan, Chau Van Thi, Le Quoc Quyet and Lu Thi Thu Trang, aswell as the poet Bui Chat. Moreover, Mr. Dieu Cay's ex-wife and son werearrested on their way to the trial, and members of the secret police reportedlyprevented his youngest daughter from leaving her home to attend. Furthermore,cell phone access was blocked in the court's vicinity and the prominent blogDan Lam Bao (Citizens’ Journalism), which posted hour-by-hour reports on theevents, was fire-walled.

The right to defence and the right toequality of arms were also infringed as the Court cut off the microphone whenMr. Dieu Cay spoke to defend himself; theCourt also rejected the defense lawyer's demand to call witnesses for thedefense and failed to produce any of the 26 articles on Dieu Cay’s blog thatformed the basis of the charges of “anti-Socialist propaganda”. Moreover, DieuCay was denied the right to consult a lawyer and the right to a defense,including the right to challenge his pre-trial detention, during the first 16months of his pre-trial detention (October 2010 and February 2012) as theauthorities refused to inform his family of his whearebouts In preparation ofthe hearing, the defense lawyer was not provided with the full file ofaccusations against Dieu Cay, and the latter received no notification from thejudges until the morning of the trial itself.

The Observatory expresses its grave concern at theseheavy sentences and strongly denounces the conditions in which the trial washeld. Besides amounting to an unacceptable restriction of their fundamentalright to freedom of expression, the verdict and arrest of bloggers seem tomerely aim at sanctioning legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory therefore calls on the Vietnamesejudicial authorities to review the conviction of Mr. Dieu Cay, Ms. Ta Phong Tanand Mr. Phan Thanh Hai.

Backgroundinformation:

Mr. Dieu Cay was arrested in April 2008 and sentenced to two and ahalf years in prison at an unfair trial on trumped-up charges of “tax evasion”in September 2008[1].In fact, he had posted articles on the Internet calling for human rights anddemocratic reforms, and staged demonstrations during the Beijing Olympic games.In 2009, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Mr.Dieu Cay to be a victim of arbitrary detention (Opinion 1/2009).He was due for releaseon October 19, 2010 after having completed his prison term, but his family wasthen informed that he would remain in detention under the new charges of“propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam”.

As for Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan,they were arrested respectively on October 18, 2010 and September 5, 2011 andhave been held in detention at the headquarters ofthe Ho Chi Minh City Security Police Investigations Department (Phan Dang LuuStreet), along with Dieu Cay, and charged under Article 88 of the Criminal Codeas well. Before his arrest, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai published in particular ananalysis outlining that Article 88 of the Criminal Code violated the right tofreedom of expression enshrined in the Constitution, and that it should beabrogated. Ms. Ta Phong Tan posted articles on police abuse and violations ofhuman rights by the State.

Theirtrial was re-scheduled on April and August 2012.

OnSeptember 15, 2012, their lawyers were officially notified that the trial wouldfinally take place on September 24, 2012. In the afternoon of September 16,2012, Mr. Dieu Cay's ex wife, along with a sister of Ms. Ta Phong Tan, werereportedly arrested and interrogated at the police station on accusations ofcausing a traffic incident after they got out of the taxi that drove them to aceremony to commemorate the 49-day of Ms. Ta Phong Tan's death. The same day,they were also assaulted by thugs in front of policemen who made no attempt tointervene. It is to be recalled that on July 30, 2012, Ms. Ta Phong Tan'smother, Ms. Dang Thi Kim Lieng, immolated herself outside the People’sCommittee headquarters in Bac Lieu to protest against her daughter’s unfairimprisonment.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Viet Nam urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical andpsychological integrity of Mr. Dieu Cay, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan, aswell as of all human rights defenders in Viet Nam;

ii. Release Mr. Dieu Cay, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. TaPhong Tan immediately and unconditionally as their detentionseems to merely sanction their human rights activities and is contrary tonational and international law;

iii. Putan end to all acts harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mr. Dieu Cay, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. TaPhong Tan, aswell as against all human rights defenders in Viet Nam;

iv. Comply with the provisions of the UN Declarationon Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular:

- its Article 1, which states that “everyone has theright, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strivefor the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms atthe national and international levels”,

- as well as Article 12.2, which provides that “theState shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by thecompetent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others,against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adversediscrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of hisor her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the presentDeclaration”;

v. More generally, ensure in all circumstancesrespect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance withinternational and regional human rights instruments ratified by Viet Nam.

Addresses:

· H.E. Mr. PhamBinh Minh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1 Ton That Dam St., Ba Dinh District,Hanoi, Vietnam; Tel: 84-4-37992000; 080 48235; Fax: 84-4-38231872 –84-4-37992682, Email: bc.mfa@mofa.gov.vn

· H.E. Mr. Nguyen Thai Binh, Minister of Interior, 37A Nguyen Binh KhiemSt., Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam; Tel: 84-4-39764116 – 84-4-39764278;Fax: 84-4-39781005

· H.E. Mr. Ha Hung Cuong, Minister of Justice, 56-60 Tran Phu St., Ba DinhDistrict, Hanoi, Vietnam; Tel: 84-4-37336213 – 84-4-37338068 ; Fax:84-4-38431431

· H.E. Mr. Tran Dai Quang,Minister of Public Security, 44 Yet Kieu St., Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi,Vietnam; Tel: 84-4-069 42545 - 84-4-048 226602; Fax: 84-4-9420223

· H.E. Mr. Vu Duc Dam, Minister, Office of theGovernment (OOG), 1 Hoang Hoa Tham St. Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam; Tel:84-4-80 43100 ; 84-4-80 43569; Fax: 84-4-80 44130

· H.E. Mr Vũ Dũng, Ambassador Extraordinary andPlenipotential, Permanent Representative, 30 chemin des Corbillettes, 1218Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland; Tel (Assistant): +41 022-791 85 40; Phone:+41 (0) 22 791 85 40; Fax : +41 (0) 22-798 07 24; Email : info@vnmission-ge.gov.vn

· HE Mr. PHAM Sanh Chau,Ambassador, Boulevard Général Jacques 1, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 (0)2.379 27 37 ; Fax : +32 (0)2. 374 93 76; Email : vnemb.brussels@skynet.be - unescochau@yahoo.com

Please also write to the embassies of Viet Nam in yourrespective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, September 27, 2012

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33(0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22809 49 29

[1] Dieu Cay was unjustly accused of having failed for ten years to pay taxes onpremises. Said taxes should have been paid by the owner of the premises notDieu Cay, who was only renting them.