Dear Readers, We regret to inform you that due to an operational adjustment impacting our human resources, The Vietnamese Magazine
Key Events * Prisoners of Conscience in An Diem Prison Start Hunger Strikes * Vietnam Deports a Belarusian Military Volunteer in Ukraine
Key Events * Police Arrest Eight Villagers Who Oppose Land Seizures for Road Construction * Vietnam Human Rights Network Honors Three Political
The Vietnamese authorities have released several political prisoners just before General Secretary of Communist Party and President To Lam begins his trip to the United States on Sept. 21. Among them is prisoner of conscience Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, 57, a businessman who received a 16-year sentence and five years of probation in 2010 after he was convicted of “organizing activities to overthrow the people’s administration.” Thuc was freed in the early morning of Sept. 20 after spending 15 years behind bars. His release came eight months before his sentence was due to expire.
Other individuals freed that same day include climate activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong, who was sentenced to three years on charges of “tax evasion” under Article 200 of the Penal Code in September 2023. Hong founded the nonprofit organization CHANGE, which advocates for environmental protection and the fight against climate change. Still, she closed it after several civil society leaders were implicated due to “tax evasion” allegations. Meanwhile, the authorities reportedly released Hoang Ngoc Giao, 68, a policy expert and director of the Institute for Research on Policy, Law and Development (PLD). He has been detained for nearly 21 months for investigations into his alleged “tax evasion.”
In 2000, Thuc founded EIS, one of Vietnam’s first internet service providers. Two years later, One Connection, a subsidiary of EIS, unveiled an international calling service that enabled local users to make cross-border calls at a competitive price.
On May 24, 2009, Ho Chi Minh City authorities arrested and charged Thuc with stealing telecommunications cables. However, he was later indicted and convicted of “subversion” in a trial along with two other human rights lawyers, attorneys Le Cong Dinh and Le Thang Long, who were imprisoned for “distributing anti-state propaganda.” The reason for their imprisonment originated from the creation of the Chan Research Group (Nhóm nghiên cứu Chấn). This online blog wrote about various political, economic, and social issues in Vietnam.
In a public announcement on social media that confirmed his release, Thuc revealed that the disciplinary authorities of Nghe An Province’s Prison No. 6 forced him on Sept. 19 to sign a document confirming his amnesty because President To Lam had granted him a pardon ahead of his official release.
According to the social media post, when Thuc refused to be pardoned because he believed he had been unjustly convicted, more than 20 security officials from Prison No. 6 rushed into the cell. They read him an announcement that the president had approved “a special amnesty decision,” Decision No. 940, dated Sept. 20, a day before To Lam’s official trip began. Despite his disagreement, the businessman was immediately put on a plane to return to Ho Chi Minh City, where his family lives. Regarding his health, Thuc said he was mentally stable and weighed around 65 kilograms (143 pounds).
On the same day, nearly 100 academics, researchers, journalists, and diplomats worldwide wrote an open letter to Vietnam’s leaders, including General Secretary To Lam, calling on them to release journalist Truong Huy San, also known as Huy Duc. The authorities detained him on June 1 and charged him with “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the Penal Code. The letter said that the arrest of Huy Duc might have resulted from his social media posts that discussed the country’s political situation.
General Secretary and President To Lam and his wife arrived in New York on Sept. 21 to attend the United Nation's Summit of the Future 2024, which will begin on Sept. 24, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. State media reports that on his first trip to the United States, as the most powerful person in Vietnam’s political system, To Lam will speak at the General Assembly and hold crucial meetings with several U.S. officials.
According to Foreign Affairs Minister Bui Thanh Son, To Lam will emphasize Hanoi’s strong support for multilateralism and affirm the Vietnamese foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and diversification of foreign relations. He will also commit to a proactive and extensive integration with the international community. After the U.S. trip, the To Lam will pay a state visit to Cuba, one of Hanoi’s longest-running Communist partners, at the invitation of the First Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and his wife.
To Lam’s foreign agenda includes a conversation at Columbia University on Sept. 23 with Professor Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, director at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, which studies the modern and contemporary history of East, Southeast, and Inner Asia. Reuters also cited multiple sources that confirmed the Communist Party chief’s expected meeting with representatives from major U.S. firms during his trip, including Google and Meta. Meanwhile, an official also informed Reuters of the general secretary’s planned state visit to France at the beginning of October.
Before To Lam’s visit, several pro-democracy organizations and the U.S. Vietnamese community have been calling for a public protest against his arrival in New York on Sept. 22 and 23. A political party, Viet Tan, which has been formed overseas is one of the protest organizers wrote on a public banner that Vietnamese people who love freedom and democracy must speak up strongly and be exposed to the world.
PEN International, a London-based advocacy group that advocates for the right to write, has announced journalist Pham Doan Trang as one of its Empty Chair honorees at the PEN Congress between Sept. 24 and 27. The empty chairs feature writers and journalists who are currently imprisoned and unable to attend the event. Trang is presently serving a nine-year prison term under former Article 88 of the Penal Code, which is now Article 117, which criminalizes the “distribution of anti-state propaganda.”
“Despite international condemnation, Trang continues to endure harsh conditions, denied proper legal counsel and medical care,” PEN International writes. “We renew our call for her immediate release and urge Vietnam to end the persecution of dissident voices.”
Both PEN International and PEN America have appealed to the Vietnamese authorities to end Pham Doan Trang’s arbitrary imprisonment and for her immediate release. In a public announcement in October 2022, which marked the journalist’s second year in prison, PEN International called on the public to send their appeals to the Vietnamese prime minister and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, demanding her access to proper health services, family visitations, and legal assistance. The appeal letter also urged Hanoi to cease its “crackdown on bloggers, writers and free speech activists in Vietnam.”
The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department on Sept. 20 arrested Nguyen Thi Huong and Tran Van Linh, residents of Go Vap District. It charged them with “organizing activities to overthrow the people’s administration” under Article 109 of the Penal Code. Both individuals were accused of having links to the U.S.-based “Provisional National Government of Vietnam,” designated as a “terrorist group” by the Public Security Ministry.
According to state media, Huong and Linh were arrested while preparing 1,000 leaflets containing information that “incites public demonstration to disrupt security and social order.” According to the authorities, these leaflets were intended for distribution during the Vietnamese Independence Day on Sept. 2. The police also declared that they had searched Huong’s residence and confiscated the alleged documents, including a printer, a computer, and a cell phone that were used to produce the materials.
The police investigators concluded that Linh was Huong's accomplice, who surveyed crowded places in Ho Chi Minh City and distributed the materials as directed.
On Sept. 22, the Security Investigation Bureau of the Kien Giang Provincial Police announced they had arrested and prosecuted Nguyen Ngoc Chau, 63, under the charge of “subversion” due to her accused association with the Provisional National Government of Vietnam. The police searched Chau’s residence and reportedly confiscated more than 3,000 leaflets with similar content and flags of the defeated Republic of Vietnam, intended for distribution during major national holidays to “overthrow the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
The police have detained numerous people accused of being members of this outlawed organization. Those convicted of “subversion” could receive sentences ranging between 12 and 20 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty, depending on the severity of their activities.
General Secretary and President To Lam told He Wei, new Chinese ambassador to Vietnam, in a meeting on Sept. 17 that Hanoi regards relations with Beijing “a strategic choice and a top priority” in its foreign policy, the South China Morning Post reported. He also emphasized the significance of traditional friendship and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership Vietnam shares with China, symbolized by a state visit by President Xi Jinping to Hanoi last December. Meanwhile, He Wei pledged to enhance socio-economic cooperation with Hanoi in his new position and promised to “better resolve disagreements at sea.”
On Sept. 22, 2023, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Capital Punishment Enforcement Agency sent a notice to the family of Le Van Manh, a death row inmate, informing them that he was executed at 7 a.m. on the same day. Manh, a resident of Yen Dinh Commune, Thanh Hoa, was sentenced to death under conviction of murder, rape, and robbery in a first-instance trial on March 13, 2006. The death row inmate and his family have repeatedly appealed the sentencing, saying he was wrongfully convicted and that the court lacked crucial evidence to prosecute him. However, after multiple appellate hearings, Manh’s conviction was not overturned, and his execution occurred in Sept. 2023.
Radio Free Asia/ David Hutt/ Sept. 18
“Perhaps the strongest institutional check on Lam’s power is the military, which has long been in competition with his public security ministry.
The military is now the single largest bloc on the Central Committee, accounting for around 13 percent of its members.
This suggests that we might see a new power struggle between the Politburo and Central Committee, as there was when Trong and Dung duked it out a decade ago.
Lam has recently installed some of his Hung Yen faction into key military posts in the north, but there is talk that the military is already testing his resolve.”
Key Events * Prisoners of Conscience in An Diem Prison Start Hunger Strikes * Vietnam Deports a Belarusian Military Volunteer in Ukraine
Key Events * Police Arrest Eight Villagers Who Oppose Land Seizures for Road Construction * Vietnam Human Rights Network Honors Three Political
It has become widely recognized that the Vietnamese government is steadily eroding the right to free speech and expression. This
Key Events * Quang Binh Man Convicted of ‘Abusing Democratic Freedoms’ for Running Facebook Page Denouncing Corruption * Hanoi Denies Hoang Thi
Vietnam's independent news and analyses, right in your inbox.
