Hanoi Police Complete Their Investigation of Blogger Nguyen Lan Thang

• Hanoi Police’s Investigation Agency has finished its investigation into the case of Nguyen Lan Thang, a prominent Vietnamese blogger, according to updates from his lawyers and family members. The investigators suggested that he be charged with “distributing anti-State propaganda” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. Thang was arrested in July 2022 under the same criminal code.
• According to Le Van Luan, one of Thang’s two defense lawyers, the investigation concluded on Jan. 17. Le Bich Vuong, Thang’s wife, said that neither she nor his lawyers have been able to see or talk to him since his arrest. In cases deemed as “endangering Vietnam’s national security,” the defendants are often restricted from seeing their families or lawyers until the investigation is completed.
• Vuong told RFA that her family was allowed to send Thang food and personal items purchased directly from the prison weekly. She said she was very worried about his health as he had asthma. The detention center did not allow her to send her husband medicine from the outside. In another interview with VOA News, Vuong wished her husband would be tried soon and get transferred to another detention facility with better living conditions.

Vietnam Arrests Former NGO Director Nguyen Son Lo

• The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Feb. 2 announced that it had issued a warrant for the arrest, as well as permission for a search of the residence and workplace, of Nguyen Son Lo, an academic and former NGO director. The warrant was based on the charges of “abusing freedom and democracy and infringing upon State and individuals’ legitimate rights and interests” under Article 331 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. Lo, 77, is the former director of the Southeast and North Asia Institute of Technology Research and Development (SENA). He was prosecuted and put under house arrest on July 27, 2022, under the same charge.
• The MPS announcement stated Lo was arrested after its security investigation agency found that he “showed signs of continuing to commit crimes” after being prosecuted. Last year, the police said it released the academic on bail instead of detaining him due to his old age and weakening health. It didn’t specify his signs of “continuing to commit crimes.”
• Article 331 has been criticized by lawyers and legal experts due to its vaguely defined provisions and definitions. The law code is often deployed to silence regime critics and journalists in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the arrest of Lo is also the latest example of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s crackdown on civil society. Nguyen Son Lo wrote many books offering advice to Vietnam’s leaders, with recommendations on politics, economy and culture.

Vietnamese Activist Granted Early Prison Release After Suffering Near Total Blindness

• RFA reported that Vietnamese authorities on Feb. 9 freed activist Do The Hoa for “good behavior” seven months before the end of his five-year sentence. However, the political prisoner emerged nearly blind because he was denied medical treatment. Hoa will now serve a two-year probation period following his release.
• Hoa, also known as Facebooker Bang Lĩnh, was arrested on Sept. 1, 2018, along with seven other members of the Constitution Group, which consisted of activists promoting the rule of law and constitutional reform in Vietnam. The 55-year-old was sentenced to five years in prison for “disturbing security” and was sent to Binh Duong Province, where he served time at An Phuoc Prison.
• The political prisoner was near-sighted before his arrest. Hoa told RFA that after noticing his eye problems, he requested that the prison send him to a hospital for treatment. But the prison authorities ignored his requests for medical treatment for his eyes until it was too late. When he was approved for medical care, the doctors could no longer treat his condition.

CIVICUS: Vietnam Continues To Arrest Journalists And Political Dissidents Despite Election To The UN Human Rights Council

• In the latest report published on Feb. 8, CIVICUS, a South Africa-based nonprofit organization working to promote civic engagement worldwide, noted that Vietnam continued to impose “restrictive laws to criminalise activists and journalists, restrictions on movement, surveillance, and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.”
• Meanwhile, the record of human rights violations in Vietnam has not improved despite the country’s recent election to the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2022. Civic space in Vietnam is also rated “closed” by CIVICUS.
• According to the report, politically motivated charges, such as allegations of tax evasion, censorship, and restrictions on social media, have been frequently used to further silence activists and journalists in the country. Activists in detention have been moved to prisons far away from their families. They also face risks of torture and ill-treatment in custody. Meanwhile, corruption remains endemic in Vietnam’s governance system.
• The report also highlighted the persistent prosecution of political activists and journalists in Vietnam. Last year, the Vietnamese authorities imprisoned Le Manh Ha, a citizen journalist, and Bui Van Thuan, a blogger, on “anti-State” charges. At the same time, members of foreign-based dissent organizations, including the Provisional Government of Vietnam, have received heavy prison terms for their activism.

Justice For Myanmar: State-Owned PetroVietnam Supports Junta’s Oil And Gas Industry

• PetroVietnam (PVN), Vietnam’s State-owned oil and gas conglomerate, has been accused of cooperating with and investing in Myanmar’s junta-controlled oil and gas industry, according to a report released Feb. 1 by Justice for Myanmar (JFM). The report noted that the oil and gas industry “is the biggest source of foreign-currency revenue for the junta.” Revenues generated through this industry, therefore, contributed to the Myanmar military’s “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
• JFM is a campaign initiated to expose the “vast business network funding brutal oppression in Myanmar” and to pressure international companies to “divest from Myanmar military businesses.”
• Other oil and gas firms from Singapore, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States are mentioned in the report.
• According to JFM, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC), a subsidiary of PVN, won a contract from POSCO International, a South Korean company, in June 2021 to build a steel jacket for a compression platform for the Shwe gas project in Myanmar. PTSC has also directly provided vital construction equipment for the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), including a pressure hose reel shipment in October 2022.
• In September 2021, Vietsepetro, a joint venture between PVN and the Russian state-controlled Zarubezhneft, also commenced construction of two rig bases for the Zawtika expansion project, a gas development located in shallow water in Myanmar, under a contract with the Thailand-based oil exploration company PTTEP. PetroVietnam Coating JSC won a contract from PTTEP to coat a 9.5 km-long marine pipeline in July 2022, according to the report.

International Advocacy: What Happened Last Week?

USCIRF calls for the release of Vietnamese religious prisoner Nguyen Bac Truyen

Kurt Werthmuller, a policy analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), called for the release of Nguyen Bac Truyen, a religious activist who received an 11-year sentence on “subversion” charges. Werthmuller made the statement at the 2023 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C, VOA News reported.

Werthmuller urged Vietnam to release Truyen on Feb. 1 during a discussion session broadcast live on Facebook by BPSOS – Vietnam Advocacy Project, a campaign promoting freedom of religion in Vietnam. The USCIRF policy analyst also raised concerns about Truyen’s health, saying that he’s still being imprisoned “despite serious health problems.”