Trial against three pro-democracy bloggers to open on September 24

JOINT PRESS RELEASE - THE OBSERVATORY

VIET NAM: Trialagainst three pro-democracy bloggers to open on September 24

Bangkok-Paris-Geneva, September 21, 2012. The Observatoryfor the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the InternationalFederation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), together with the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), are deeplyconcerned at the judicial action against three pro-democracy bloggers. The trial against Mr. Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay), Mr. Phan ThanhHai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court is due tostart on September 24, 2012, after several postponements.

On September 15, 2012, Dieu Cay's lawyerwas officially notified that Ms. Ta Phong Tan and Messrs. Dieu Cay andPhan Thanh Hai would be tried on September 24, 2012. The three outspokenbloggers were charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” underArticle 88.2 of the Criminal Code that has been frequently used to criminalisepeaceful criticisms. If convicted, the bloggers could be sentenced to up to 20years' imprisonment.

The trial has been re-scheduled on severaloccasions (April and August 2012). Meanwhile Dieu Cay has been in prisonpending his trial for 23 months[1].Mr. Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan have also been in pre-trial detentionin Ho Chi Minh City for 23 and 12 months respectively. This prolonged pre-trialdetention is a violation of national and international law, including Article120 of the Vietnamese Criminal Procedures Code[2].

The Observatory and VCHR are extremelyconcerned that the bloggers will not receive a fair trial. In addition, thefamily of Dieu Cay has been put under pressure. Indeed, in the afternoon ofSeptember 16, 2012, Dieu Cay's ex wife, who is a sister of Ms. Ta Phong Tan,was reportedly arrested and interrogated at the police station on accusationsof causing a traffic incident after she got out of the taxi that drove her to aceremony to commemorate the 49-day of her mother's death. The same day, DieuCay's ex wife was also assaulted by thugs in front of the police. It is to berecalled that on July 30, 2012, her mother, Ms. Dang Thi Kim Lieng, immolatedherself outside the People’s Committee headquarters in Bac Lieu to protestagainst Ms. Ta Phong Tan’s unfair imprisonment.

Dieu Cay, one of the founders of the Clubof Free Journalists, is known for his writings calling for greater respect forhuman rights and democratic reforms. He is also known for his criticisms of China’sclaims over disputed islands in the South China Sea. In January 2008, Dieu Cay and other activists staged ananti-China demonstration in Ho Chi Minh City. Before their arrests, Phan TanHai had published a number of articles on his blog, including one thatcriticised and called for the repeal of Article 88 of the Criminal Code, whileMs. Tan had blogged about police abuse and violations of human rights by theState.

This crackdown on Internet activists hasbeen continuous since 2008, including numerous arbitrary arrests and detentions[3].In addition, the Vietnamese government has drafted a new Decree on Management,Provision, and Use of Internet Services and Information on the Network that, ifpassed in its current form, would grant the authorities expansive discretionarypower to censor, control and possibly criminalise Internet use in Viet Nam.Moreover, last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered a crack down onthree prominent blogs advocating for pro human rights and pro democratic reformsand denouncing corruption cases and called for the arrest of those associatedwith these sites. In June 2012, the UN Human Rights Council adopted byconsensus a resolution affirming that the right to freedom of expressionon-line must be protected, and called on States to “promote and facilitateaccess to the Internet”.

The Observatory reiterates its call on therepresentatives of the diplomatic and international community in Hanoi to sendobservers to the trial of the three bloggers and to publicly and privately urgeViet Nam to drop all charges against Ms. Ta Phong Tan, Mr. Nguyen Van Hai (DieuCay) and Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, and release them immediately and unconditionally.

Presscontact:

VCHR: VoTran Nhat: +33 1 45 98 30 85

FIDH: Arthur Manet: + 33 1 43 55 25 18

OMCT: Isabelle Scherer: +41 22 809 49 39

[1] Dieu Cay was previously convicted on trumped-up charges of ‘tax evasion’ aftera manifestly unfair and closed trial in 2009. His current prolonged detentionbegan on October 19, 2010, the same day he completed the prison term hereceived in 2009.

[2] Under Article 120 of the VietnameseCriminal Procedures Code, pre-trial detention is limited to four months for"very serious" offenses. It may be extended three times forespecially serious offences, and a fourth time in case it concerns a"national security" crime.

[3] See Observatory/VCHR non-exhaustive list of human rights defenders in detentionor under house arrest (January 2012): http://www.fidh.org/Viet-Nam-EU-Release-of-rights-and / http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/viet-nam/2012/01/d21585/. See also Joint PressRelease issued on August 1, 2012. For more general information, see also the list of 180political and religious prisoners submitted by the VCHR to the UN Human RightsCouncil in September 2012: http://www.queme.net/eng/doc/VCHR_List_of_180_Prisoners_of_Political_and_Religious_Prisoners_in_Vietnam_September_2012.pdf