Greeting from the NOW! Campaign, the coalition of international organisations calling on the Vietnamese government to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

In our last newsletter, we were celebrating the release of 2 prisoners: Can Thi Theu and Nguyen Dinh Ngoc. Since then, 11 detainees awaiting trial have been convicted and 2 individuals have been added to the list. The list now account for 171 prisoners of conscience, 15 of whom are in pre-trial detention.

Convictions

11 detainees awaiting trial have been convicted, 8 of whom are members or former members of Brotherhood for Democracy, a group co-founded by lawyer and political prisoner Nguyen Van Dai, which used the internet to promote human rights and coordinate the efforts of various pro-democracy actors in Vietnam. These 11 detainees received sentences totalling 102 years and six months imprisonment followed by 36 years house arrest:

• Bui Hui Vo is a Facebook blogger who was arrested on charges of "propaganda against the state" on March 17, 2017. After spending 14 months in pre-trial detention he was convicted on May 5, 2018 by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City to 4 years and six months in prison for posting 57 articles that the authorities claimed "containing biased content intended to distort the country's leaders."

• Vu Van Hung, a former teacher, pro-democracy activist and member of the Brotherhood for Democracy, was abducted from a lunch meeting on January 4, 2018. He is known for his environmental and social activism. He has been charged first with "causing public disorder" under Article 318 of the new 2015 Penal Code. The charge was later changed to "intentionally causing injury", under Article 134 of the 2015 Penal Code. As a former prisoner of conscience, he was arrested on September 8, 2008 and tried on October 2009 under Article 88. He was released in 2011 after serving his full 3 years sentence. He was tried on April 12, 2018 and sentenced to 1 year in prison.

• Tran Thi Xuan was arrested on October 18, 2017 and charged under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code. Xuan has been arrested in connection with activism related to the Formosa ecological disaster. According to Defend the Defenders, she was forced to waive her right to an attorney and her family was informed about her trial when it nearly ended. There are allegations that she has been treated with drugs that can damage human brain cells during her pre-trial detention and during the trial. She was tried on April 12, 2018 and sentenced to 9 years in prison followed by 5 years of house arrest by the People's Court of Ha Tinh.

• Nguyen Viet Dung established the Republican Party, which is not recognised by the Vietnamese state, and the Loyalist Association of the ARVN in April 2015. He regularly participated in protests against China’s influence over Vietnam, and its territorial claims in the South China Sea and expressed views critical of the Vietnamese government. Dung was arrested in April 2015 under Article 245 for "disturbing public order" after taking part in a rally calling for the protection of trees in Hanoi and sentenced that December to a 15-month prison term. His sentence was later commuted by an appeal court to 12 months and he was released in April 2016. On September 27, 2017 Nguyen Viet Dung was kidnapped by plainclothes agents at noon while taking lunch in his native province of Nghe An. According to local activists, no arrest warrant was presented before Dung was hauled away. According to his father, the Vietnamese police had "only issued an announcement" [acknowledging the arrest] due to strong public pressure. He was tried on April 12, 2018 by the People's Court of Nghe An province and sentenced to 7 years in prison followed by 5 years of house arrest.

• Nguyen Van Tuc, a former prisoner of conscience and a member of the Brotherhood for Democracy, was arrested under Article 79 on September 1, 2017. He had previously served four years in prison under Article 88 for "propaganda against the state" from 2008 to 2012. He was at least the seventh member of Brotherhood for Democracy to be arrested in 2017. He was tried on April 10, 2018 by the People's Court of Thai Binh and sentenced to 13 years in prison and 5 years under house arrest.

• Nguyen Bac Truyen provided pro-bono legal assistance to families of political prisoners, victims of land grabs and persecuted religious communities in Southern Vietnam. Early in the morning of July 30, 2017, he was abducted by police while waiting for his wife (Bui Thi Kim Phuong) outside the Church of the Redemptorists in Ho Chi Minh City. He and 3 members of Brotherhood for Democracy, Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Van Troi and Truong Minh Duc, were simultaneously arrested on July 30, 2017 at their homes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thanh Hoa. They were tried on 5 April, 2018, along with Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thu Ha. He received a 11 years sentence, followed by 3 years of house arrest.

• Pham Van Troi is a human rights defender and a former President of the Brotherhood for Democracy. He was arrested in 2008 and charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the Penal Code. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and an additional 4 years under house arrest. Since his release in 2012, he has continued to work promoting human rights and multi-party democracy. He was tried on 5 April 2018, along with Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thu Ha and 3 members and former member of Brotherhood for Democracy. He received a 7 years sentence, followed by 1 year of house arrest.

• Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton is the president of Brotherhood of Democracy. In December 2011, Nguyen Trung Ton was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and 2 years probation on charges of "anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the Penal Code. He is one of the four current or former members of Brotherhood of Democracy that was arrested on July 30, 2017. He and 3 members and former member of Brotherhood for Democracy were tried on 5 April 2018, along with Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thu Ha. He received a 12 years sentence, followed by 5 years of house arrest.

• Truong Minh Duc is a citizen journalist and the Deputy Head of the Brotherhood for Democracy in the Southern region of the country. Former prisoners of conscience, he was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 5 years in prison for, according to his indictment, "taking advantage of freedom and democracy to infringe upon the interests of the country", under Article 258 of the Penal Code. Since being released in 2012, he has been harassed and repeatedly assaulted by unidentified people working for the government. He and 3 members and former member of Brotherhood for Democracy were tried on 5 April 2018, along with Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thu Ha. He received a 12 years sentence, followed by 5 years of house arrest.

• Nguyen Van Dai is a well-known peaceful campaigner for a multi-party democracy and the protection of human rights in Vietnam. A lawyer, he has devoted his life to providing legal assistance to the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society. Nguyen Van Dai has repeatedly been subjected to unwarranted persecution for undertaking his legitimate work. In 2007, he was convicted under Article 88 of the Penal Code and sentenced to 4 years in prison. At the time, he had been holding seminars to teach students about the fundamentals of a free society and the rule of law. Between his release in 2011 and his most recent arrest, he had been subjected to countless incidents of harassment and surveillance by police officers. At the time of his arrest, he was still recovering from injuries sustained from a vicious assault by masked assailants, after he had attended a meeting to mark International Human Rights Day on December 6 2015. He was badly beaten, robbed and thrown on the street. Arrested again on December 16, 2015 and charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the Penal Code, and more recently with subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code. He has been in pre-trial detention for 11 months. He was tried on 5 April 2018, along with Le Thu Ha and 4 members and former members of Brotherhood for Democracy. He received a 15 years sentence, followed by 5 years of house arrest.

• Le Thu Ha was arrested along with Nguyen Van Dai with whom she had been working before her arrest on December 16, 2015. She was charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code, and more recently charged with subversion under Article 79 of the same Penal Code. Le Thu Ha was tried on 5 April 2018, along with Nguyen Van Dai and 4 members and former members of Brotherhood for Democracy. She received a 9 years sentence, followed by 2 years of house arrest.

​​​2 new additions

Take Action

With the UPR review scheduled for January 2019, it is time for NGOs and CSOs to take serious actions. Deadline for NGOs' submission is July 12 but the submission is just the first step of the process. In term of advocacy, you have an excellent pretext to meet with diplomats and reach out to medias. Don't be shy, get out and request meetings with journalists, embassies in Hanoi, and, if you can, with  representatives of the state mission to Geneva. UPR is different from other human rights mechanisms as the state under review is examined by all country members, not the Human Rights Committee. Hence, find commonalities between your work and the states; find similar themes and recommendations to increase the chances for the states to retain your recommendations.

So get to work NOW!, develop your UPR media strategy if you haven't done so; expand your network contacts, think at collaborative initiatives; and integrate the UPR strategy into your advocacy objectives.

The website has been updated and is now available in English and Vietnamese.

You can download the new Database by clicking on the link below and visit our website for a detailed analysis of the 2017 Database: vietnampocs.com

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