Jail wardens in southern Vietnam unleashed a searching canine on a political prisoner serving an 11-year sentence for subversion to silence his complaints about solitary confinement in a cramped cell, his household informed RFA.
Democracy advocate Nguyen Van Duc Do has been incarcerated since late 2018 on the Z30A detention heart in Xuan Loc district of Dong Nai province for “actions aimed toward overthrowing the federal government.”
Arrested in November 2016, Do and 4 different activists have been convicted on Oct. 5, 2018 in a Ho Chi Minh Metropolis courtroom after being discovered responsible in a one-day trial of involvement within the Vietnam Nationwide Self-Dedication Coalition, a bunch that authorities deemed to have challenged Vietnam’s Communist one-party system.
Do’s incapacity to train within the small eight-square-meter (about 87 sq. ft) cell resulted in his bodily situation deteriorating to the purpose the place he usually had chest pains and problem respiratory, his brother mentioned.
“My brother informed me that yesterday, March 15, he banged on the door of his cell to name for assist as a result of he had pains in his chest and again that made it arduous for him to breathe,” Do’s youthful brother, Nguyen Van Duc Hai informed RFA’s Vietnamese Service.
“He mentioned that the jail was very massive, so nobody can hear you in the event you don’t shout. This is the reason he banged on the door shouting ‘Prisoners of conscience additionally must stay!’” mentioned Hai.
That is when Do mentioned the guards introduced in a searching canine to silence him.
“My brother mentioned the canine was about to pounce on him, so he jumped again inside. Although it didn’t chew him, the canine barked loudly at him whereas standing on the door,” Hai mentioned.
RFA tried to contact the jail for remark however phone calls went unanswered.
Do’s group had been charged underneath Article 79 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, one in every of a set of imprecise provisions within the regulation used to detain writers, activists, and bloggers, and had been held with out trial for nearly two years.
The group had beforehand been lively in protesting the federal government’s dealing with of an enormous chemical spill in April 2016 that devastated the nation’s central coast, leaving fishermen and tourism staff jobless in 4 central provinces.
Group chief Luu Van Vinh was given 15 years. Nguyen Quoc Hoan was sentenced to 13 years, Tu Cong Nghia to 10 years, Phan Trung to eight years, and Nguyen Van Duc Do to 11 years.
Nguyen Van Duc Hai mentioned his brother Do had been in solitary confinement since Could 2020, and since then had not been allowed to exit, even for train.
Hai additionally mentioned that Do was being pressured by jail workers to plead responsible in trade for a decreased sentence.
“My brother Do mentioned they usually deliver him papers to file a responsible plea and requested him to signal, however he responded ‘I’m harmless. The decision was improper. Am solely a patriot!’” Hai mentioned.
“They informed him that if he pleads responsible, they will cut back his sentence by two months for each 5 years. However my brother mentioned ‘I’m harmless. How can I plead responsible? I used to be convicted wrongfully,’” mentioned Hai.
Do additionally informed Hai that prisoners at Xuan Loc are sometimes overwhelmed to the purpose of great harm.
RFA reported in June 2020 that Do’s household had filed a petition demanding higher remedy at Xuan Loc after he informed them he had been bodily assaulted, spent two days shacked in solitary confinement, then fed jail rations combined with feces.
In October 2019 RFA reported that Do had joined different prisoners of conscience held at Xuan Loc who had additionally stopped consuming to name for beater remedy on the facility.
Based on a pal interviewed in that report, political prisoners at Xuan Loc have been being charged 4 or 5 instances larger for meals than different prisoners there.
Based on the 88 Undertaking, an Illinois-based NGO that tracks political prisoners, Vietnam is presently holding 240 prisoners of conscience.
Trial for journalist
Authorities have set a trial date for detained journalist Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu on fees of “creating, storing, disseminating info, paperwork, gadgets and publications towards the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” as acknowledged in Article 117 of the 2015 Felony Code.
Dieu, additionally identified by her pen title Dieu Anh, will stand trial on the Phu Yen Individuals’s Court docket on March 22.
Dieu was arrested on Aug. 21, 2020 for posting on social media a whole bunch of tales, pictures, and video clips that authorities say have been “content material that opposed the Celebration, State and Individuals, smearing President Ho Chi Minh and plenty of different leaders of the Celebration and State.” The Individuals’s Public Safety Newspaper accused her of posting the content material utilizing a number of accounts on Fb and different social media web sites.
She was additionally accused of writing tales that ““distorted Vietnam’s Revolutionary historical past, inciting the overthrow of the individuals’s authorities, demanding multi-party pluralism, disseminating improper details about the actions of law-enforcement our bodies, exhibiting uncooperative and opposing angle when being invited to work with accountable authorities.”
If convicted Dieu may obtain a sentence starting from 5 to 12 years.
Dieu’s lawyer Nguyen Kha Than informed RFA that Dieu will plead harmless and had refused to signal interview data compiled by investigation businesses.
“Nowadays it appears Fb customers who publish phrases which can be completely different than the conventional pondering of others are sometimes prosecuted on this cost. Ms. Dieu mentioned she was arrested after having give up Fb for a number of months,” Than mentioned.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Chau Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
