EU condemns jailing of activists in Vietnam

15.05.2007

EU condemns jailing of activists in Vietnam

Pravda: Vietnam pro-democracy activist sentenced to five years in prison
Bangkok Post: Vietnam jails 6 democrats in a week
International Herald Tribune: Vietnam sentences pro-democracy activist to 5 years in prison.
EU condemns jailing of activists in Vietnam
EUbusiness - 15 May 2007, 18:00 CET

(BERLIN) - The German presidency of the European Union on Tuesday condemned the jailing of eight human rights activists in Vietnam in recent weeks and called for the release of all non-violent dissidents.

“The EU has noted with great concern that several human rights defenders have been arrested and given long prison sentences on charges of ‘conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’,” Berlin said.

“The EU reiterates its plea to the government to release all non-violent political activists who have simply exercised their right to freedom of expression.”

On Tuesday, lawyer Tran Quoc Hien, 42, was sentenced to five years in jail in Vietnam for spreading anti-state propaganda and disrupting security.

Hien, the former director of the Saigon Legal Consultancy, was a member of the underground pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406 launched over a year ago and a spokesman for a banned workers’ and farmers’ organisation.

It is the latest in a series of arrests and trials of political activists in Vietnam that have drawn protests from Western governments and human rights groups.

Last week, separate courts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City jailed five other dissidents, including Hanoi lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan.

In March, three activists, including a priest, were sentenced to respectively eight, six and five years in jail.
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Tuyên cáo của Liên Hiệp Âu Châu (EU)

Ngày 15/5/07, nước Cộng Hoà Liên Bang Ðức, hiện là Chủ tịch đoàn của Liên Hiệp Âu Châu năm 2007, đã thay mặt các quốc gia thành viên trong tổ chức này, ra một bản tuyên cáo lên án nhà cầm quyền CSVN đàn áp, bắt giữ và kết án tù các nhà đấu tranh cho nhân quyền tại Việt Nam. Nội dung bản tuyên cáo do Lê Minh Úc lược dịch như sau:

Tuyên cáo của Chủ tịch đoàn, thay mặt cho Liên Hiệp Âu Châu về việc kết án các nhà đấu tranh bảo vệ nhân quyền tại Việt Nam

Với sự quan tâm lớn lao, Liên Hiệp Âu Châu ghi nhận việc nhiều nhà đấu tranh ôn hoà để bảo vệ nhân quyền đã bị bắt và kết án nặng nề vì những tội như "có hành động tuyên truyền chống lại nước CHXHCN Việt Nam".

Ngày 30/3, cha Nguyễn Văn Lý, ông Nguyễn Phong và ông Nguyễn Bình Thành đã bị tuyên án theo thứ tự là 8, 6, và 5 năm tù bởi Toà án nhân dân tỉnh Thừa Thiên Huế.

Ngày 10/5 các ông Nguyễn Bắc Truyển, Huỳnh Nguyên Đạo và Lê Nguyên Sang đã bị tuyên án theo thứ tự là 3, 4 và 5 năm tù bởi Toà án nhân dân Tp.HCM

Ngày 11/5 Toà án nhân dân Hà Nội tuyên án hai luật sư Nguyễn Văn Đài 5 năm tù giam cộng 4 năm "quản chế hành chánh" (quản thúc tại gia) và Lê Thị Công Nhân 4 năm tù giam cộng 3 năm "quản chế hành chánh".

Ngày 15/5 ông Trần Quốc Hiền đã bị Toà án nhân dân Tp. HCM tuyên án 5 năm tù và 2 năm "quản chế hành chánh".

Liên Hiệp Âu Châu xin nhắc lại một lần nữa lời yêu cầu nhà nước Việt Nam hãy trả tự do cho tất cả những người hoạt động chính trị ôn hoà, họ chỉ đơn giản là đã thực hiện cái quyền làm người của họ để được tự do bày tỏ tư tưởng và lập hội như đã được quy định theo điều 69 của Hiến pháp Việt Nam, và theo điều 19 và 22 của Công ước Quốc tế về những quyền Dân sự và Chính trị mà Việt Nam là một bộ phận của Công ước này.

Liên Hiệp Âu Châu sẽ tiếp tục các chương trình thảo luận dang dở với nhà nước VN, mà vấn đề Thảo luận về Nhân quyền giữa Liên Hiệp Âu Châu và VN là một phần căn bản cần thiết.

Các Quốc gia Ứng viên của Liên Hiệp Âu Châu như Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ, Croatia*, và nước Cộng hoà Yugoslav cũ Macedonia*, các Quốc gia trong chương trình Stabilisation and Association Process và các ứng viên Albania, Bosnia và Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, và các quốc gia trong Hiệp hội EFTA (European Free Trade Association - Hiệp hội Thương mãi Tự do Âu Châu) Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, các thành viên của Khu vực Kinh tế Âu Châu (European Economic Area), cũng như nước Cộng hoà Ukraine và Cộng hoà Moldova cùng đứng tên trong bản tuyên cáo này

*Nước Croatia, và nước Cộng hoà Yugoslav cũ Macedonia vẫn tiếp tục là một bộ phận của chương trình Stabilisation and Association Process


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Vietnam pro-democracy activist sentenced to five years in prison
Pravda - 15.05.2007 - Source: AP


Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court convicted Tran Quoc Hien of spreading anti-government propaganda and disrupting security (taipeitimes.com)Vietnam sentenced a pro-democracy activist to five years in prison, the sixth to be jailed in less than a week.

Tran Quoc Hien, 42, an attorney, was convicted of spreading anti-government propaganda and disrupting security, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court officials said. Hien must also serve two years’ probation after his prison sentence.

Hien’s conviction after a four-hour trial came just days after Vietnam sent five other dissidents to prison for up to five years for spreading propaganda against the state.

Like several of those convicted last week, Hien was accused of participating in Bloc 8406, an organization that wrote a pro-democracy manifesto and circulated pro-democracy petitions in Vietnam last year.

He was also charged with trying to organize anti-government demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City last fall during an international summit attended by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Western governments have decried the trials, saying the dissidents were being punished simply for exercising their right to free speech.

“The EU reiterates its plea to the government of Viet Nam to release all non-violent political activists who have simply exercised their rights to freedom of expression and association,” Germany, which holds the European Union Presidency, said in a statement.

The day before Hien’s trial began, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement dismissing such criticism as groundless.

“As we have said time and time again, the Vietnamese government has always respected the rights to freedom and democracy, including the freedom of speech,” the statement said.

“In Vietnam, no one is arrested due to their political or religious beliefs,” it continued. “Only those who have breached the law are punished.”

Vietnam’s communist government does not tolerate challenges to its single-party rule.

Last week, Vietnam sent five pro-democracy activists to prison in two separate trials. They were accused of collaborating with overseas pro-democracy activists and trying to organize independent political organizations.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has described Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent as one of the worst in two decades.


Vietnam jails 6 democrats in a week
Bangkok Post

Hanoi (dpa) - A court in southern Vietnam sentenced an independent union activist and lawyer to five years in prison on Tuesday, the sixth pro-democracy activist to be sentenced in a week during a harsh crackdown on dissidents in the communist country.

Tran Quoc Hien, 42, received a three-year prison term for “conducting propaganda against the state” and two years for “disrupting security,” according to Vu Phi Long, presiding judge in the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.

“The total sentence is five years in prison. He pleaded guilty at the court and promised not to violate the law again,” Judge Long said by telephone.

State-run media on Tuesday denounced Hien, who is the former director of Saigon Legal Consultancy, saying he has defamed the government “under the cover of ‘fighting for democracy and human rights in Vietnam.’ “

Hien was a member of the pro-democracy umbrella group Bloc 8406, which was formed last year, and had “visited hostile websites in 2006 to contact and exchange anti-government views with some hostile figures,” reported Viet Nam Law newspaper.

He had also encouraged Vietnamese workers to hold unauthorized strikes, urged the repeal of a law stating that only government unions are legal and published internet articles “to slander and distort the policies of the [Communist] Party and the state,” the newspaper said.

Last week, Vietnam sentenced five other activists linked to Bloc 8406, including lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, in a crackdown condemned by international diplomats.

A representative from the US embassy said last week’s ruling against Dai and Nhan, also convicted of anti-state propaganda, was deeply troubling.

“This trial comes in the wake of the disturbing increase in the harassment, detention, arrests and convictions of individuals peacefully exercising their legitimate rights,” said Ralph Falzone, second secretary at the US embassy in Hanoi.

“We call on the government of Vietnam to release these individuals and other political prisoners,” Falzone said

A European diplomat also said the evidence in the dissident trials was weak and the sentences too hard.

“We consider that people should not be condemned for just peacefully expressing their views,” the European diplomat said.

Vietnam’s government released a statement Monday saying that the country respects human rights and supports democracy and freedom of speech, but reserves the right to prosecute those violating Article 88 of the country’s penal code outlawing “propaganda” against the state.

“In Vietnam, no one is arrested due to their political or religious beliefs,” the statement said. “Only those who have breached the law are punished.”

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=118751


Vietnam sentences pro-democracy activist to 5 years in prison
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune - Monday, May 14, 2007

HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam sentenced a pro-democracy activist to five years in prison on Tuesday, the sixth to be jailed in less than a week, as authorities continued their latest crackdown against dissent.

Tran Quoc Hien, 42, an attorney, was convicted of spreading anti-government propaganda and disrupting security, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court officials said. Hien must also serve two years’ probation after his prison sentence.

Hien’s conviction after a four-hour trial came just days after Vietnam sent five other dissidents to prison for up to 5 years for spreading propaganda against the state.

Like several of those convicted last week, Hien was accused of participating in Bloc 8406, an organization that wrote a pro-democracy manifesto and circulated pro-democracy petitions in Vietnam last year.

He was also charged with trying to organize anti-government demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City last fall during an international summit attended by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Western governments have decried the trials, saying the dissidents were being punished simply for exercising their right to free speech.

The day before Hien’s trial began, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement dismissing such criticism as groundless.

“As we have said time and time again, the Vietnamese government has always respected the rights to freedom and democracy, including the freedom of speech,” the statement said.

“In Vietnam, no one is arrested due to their political or religious beliefs,” it continued. “Only those who have breached the law are punished.”

Vietnam’s communist government does not tolerate challenges to its single-party rule.

Last week, Vietnam sent five pro-democracy activists to prison in two separate trials. They were accused of collaborating with overseas pro-democracy activists and trying to organize independent political organizations.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has described Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent as one of the worst in two decades.