Former Vietnamese Political Prisoner Condemns Police Torture, Ill-treatment during Interrogation and Imprisonment

le thi phuong anh

She was placed in a small room with two others who tried to beat her. Due to bad conditions, she became ill with a number of diseases including heart stroke and stomach. When she asked for drugs, police said “You deserve to die so no need of drugs.”

By Vu Quoc Ngu | May 18, 2015

Le Thi Phuong Anh, the Vietnamese political dissident who just completed her one-year imprisonment, said she had been tortured and very badly treated by police during interrogation as well as by prison’s authorities.

Mrs. Anh was arrested on May 12, 2014 when she and two other activists went to the southern province of Dong Nai to cover news on anti-China  demonstration conducted by tens of thousands of local workers and residents to protest China’s illegal deployment of HYSY-981 oilrig in Vietnam’s waters in the East Sea.

Later, the trio was subsequently charged under Article 258 of the penal code for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state” and Mrs. Anh was sentenced in early February to 12 months in prison, which included her pre-trial detention.

During in the pre-trial detention, Anh said she was tortured and ill-treated by interrogating officers Hoang Thai Thi, Hoang Lien Son and Pham Minh Ha, and one plainclothes man named Nam.

“They were interrogating me for two months, from 7.00 PM to 8.00 AM with short noon break in B5 detention facility. They beat me and forced me to confess the acts I did not commit,” Mrs. Anh said in an interview to GNsP newswire.

When she refused to confess and sign to the statement prepared by police officers, the man named Nam beat her with his hand to her head. During the interrogation, they used brutal words to insult her, she said.

She conducted a 15-day hunger strike to protest the illegal arrest and torture.

The investigating officers forced her to sign in the confession statement prepared by them and promised to allow her to be visited by her mother and children so she agreed. However, after she signed, they forgot what they promised.

When her mother and two children traveled 2,000 kilometers from the central city of Hue to visit her in B5, police officers did not allow them to meet each other but kept her in distance.

She was placed in a small room with two others who tried to beat her. Due to bad conditions, she became ill with a number of diseases including heart stroke and stomach. When she asked for drugs, police said “You deserve to die so no need of drugs.”

The food in B5 was terrible, like for animal. Vegetables were dirty while meat is substandard that she couldn’t eat.

The foodstuff in the detention’s canteen is offered at very high prices, several times more expensive compared with those outside, she noted.

Anh said she overcame the fear and determined to be firm against ill-treatment and police abuse.

She said she will continue to fight for multi-party democracy and human rights as well as combat against state official corruption.

Mrs. Anh is a member of the pro-democracy Brotherhood for Democracy. Prior to her arrest, she and her husband, Le Anh Hung, had repeatedly sent letters to members of the National Assembly accusing Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai of operating a drug smuggling ring.

The couple say they have been subjected to repeated harassment at the hands of undercover police, including beatings.