Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh at his trial in 2012
An Phuoc prison authorities supply food mixed with tiny glass particles and copper wire for prisoners of conscience. The drinking water provided for prisoners of conscience has strange smell so it may be intentionally contaminated with toxic chemical substances, Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh said.
By Vu Quoc Ngu, October 02, 2016
Authorities in An Phuoc prison in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong have continued to apply inhumane policy to suppress prisoners of conscience being held there, imprisoned Christian pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh told his wife during their recent meeting in the prison.
Pastor Chinh, who is serving his 11-year sentence in the prison, said the prison authorities have supplied food mixed with tiny glass particles and copper wire for prisoners of conscience. The drinking water provided for prisoners of conscience has a strange smell so it may be intentionally contaminated with toxic chemical substances, the Protestant pastor told his wife Tran Thi Hong.
In addition, the prison authorities have encouraged and used criminal prisoners to beat prisoners of conscience who bravely speak out to protest inhumane treatment in the prison.
Pastor Chinh said he is very concerned about the health of prisoners of conscience here who are political dissidents or religious activists from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.
Many prisoners of conscience in the prison have died or suffered from serious illness due to food poisoning with chemicals, Mr. Chinh said, adding that late chemistry teacher Dinh Dang Dinh, who was held in the prison during the 2011-2014 period, suffered from stomach cancer after being poisoned with toxic substances. The political dissident died in April 2014, several weeks after receiving amnesty from former President Truong Tan Sang. Mr. Dinh, who had posted many online articles calling for multi-party democracy and human rights enhancement, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Mrs. Hong, who is a member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights and has also been under constant persecution of authorities in Gia Lai province, told Defend the Defenders that her husband’s health has worsened very much after the recent hunger strike.
Mr. Chinh and many other prisoners of conscience conducted the fasting from August 8 until August 28 to demand the prison’s authorities to respect human rights and their rights of receiving material supports from their families as well as contacting with the families. They stopped the hunger strike after the chief of Prisons Management Department under the Ministry of Public Security visited the An Phuoc prison and pledged to meet their requirements, Chinh told her wife. However, the inhumane treatment of the prison continues as the chief left the prison, Chinh said.
The pastor who fought for freedom of religion and beliefs of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands said he and other prisoners of conscience plan to conduct another hunger strike to protest the prison’s inhumane treatment against them.
Pastor Chinh is a Gia Lai province-based Mennonite pastor who was arrested in April 2011. One year later, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail for “undermining the national unity policy” under Article 87 of the Penal Code. Since 2012, he has been held in An Phuoc prison in Phu Giao district in Binh Duong province, about 600 km from his family home and it takes 12 hours to reach.
Chinh, who was accused of giving interviews to foreign media and joining with other dissidents in criticizing the government, is among 82 prisoners of conscience whom Amnesty International urged Vietnam’s government to release immediately and unconditionally.
While he is in prison, his wife has been harassed by the police in Pleiku city. In April-May, she was summoned to the local police station where police officers beat and interrogated her about her meeting with U.S. diplomats led by Ambassador at Large on International Religious Freedom David Saperstein in late March.
According to a recent report titled “Prisons Within Prisons: Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam,” Amnesty International said the conditions in Vietnam’s prisons are harsh, with inadequate food and health care that falls short of the minimum requirements set out in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and other international standards.
Many prisoners of conscience have been held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods as a punishment and have been subjected to ill-treatment, including beatings by prison guards and by other prisoners with prison guards failing to intervene, the London-based human rights organization said in the report.
Some prisoners of conscience are frequently moved from one detention facility to another, often without their families being informed of the change in their whereabouts, it noted.
Vietnam ratified the Convention against Torture which came into effect in February 2015, however, the communist government has taken insufficient steps to bring the country into compliance with its obligations under that treaty, Amnesty International concluded.
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October 2, 2016
Food for Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience Mixed with Glass, Copper Wire While Drink Contaminated with Toxic Substances: Pastor Chinh
by Nhan Quyen • Nguyen Cong Chinh (Nguyen Thanh Long)
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh at his trial in 2012
By Vu Quoc Ngu, October 02, 2016
Authorities in An Phuoc prison in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong have continued to apply inhumane policy to suppress prisoners of conscience being held there, imprisoned Christian pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh told his wife during their recent meeting in the prison.
Pastor Chinh, who is serving his 11-year sentence in the prison, said the prison authorities have supplied food mixed with tiny glass particles and copper wire for prisoners of conscience. The drinking water provided for prisoners of conscience has a strange smell so it may be intentionally contaminated with toxic chemical substances, the Protestant pastor told his wife Tran Thi Hong.
In addition, the prison authorities have encouraged and used criminal prisoners to beat prisoners of conscience who bravely speak out to protest inhumane treatment in the prison.
Pastor Chinh said he is very concerned about the health of prisoners of conscience here who are political dissidents or religious activists from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.
Many prisoners of conscience in the prison have died or suffered from serious illness due to food poisoning with chemicals, Mr. Chinh said, adding that late chemistry teacher Dinh Dang Dinh, who was held in the prison during the 2011-2014 period, suffered from stomach cancer after being poisoned with toxic substances. The political dissident died in April 2014, several weeks after receiving amnesty from former President Truong Tan Sang. Mr. Dinh, who had posted many online articles calling for multi-party democracy and human rights enhancement, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Mrs. Hong, who is a member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights and has also been under constant persecution of authorities in Gia Lai province, told Defend the Defenders that her husband’s health has worsened very much after the recent hunger strike.
Mr. Chinh and many other prisoners of conscience conducted the fasting from August 8 until August 28 to demand the prison’s authorities to respect human rights and their rights of receiving material supports from their families as well as contacting with the families. They stopped the hunger strike after the chief of Prisons Management Department under the Ministry of Public Security visited the An Phuoc prison and pledged to meet their requirements, Chinh told her wife. However, the inhumane treatment of the prison continues as the chief left the prison, Chinh said.
The pastor who fought for freedom of religion and beliefs of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands said he and other prisoners of conscience plan to conduct another hunger strike to protest the prison’s inhumane treatment against them.
Pastor Chinh is a Gia Lai province-based Mennonite pastor who was arrested in April 2011. One year later, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail for “undermining the national unity policy” under Article 87 of the Penal Code. Since 2012, he has been held in An Phuoc prison in Phu Giao district in Binh Duong province, about 600 km from his family home and it takes 12 hours to reach.
Chinh, who was accused of giving interviews to foreign media and joining with other dissidents in criticizing the government, is among 82 prisoners of conscience whom Amnesty International urged Vietnam’s government to release immediately and unconditionally.
While he is in prison, his wife has been harassed by the police in Pleiku city. In April-May, she was summoned to the local police station where police officers beat and interrogated her about her meeting with U.S. diplomats led by Ambassador at Large on International Religious Freedom David Saperstein in late March.
According to a recent report titled “Prisons Within Prisons: Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam,” Amnesty International said the conditions in Vietnam’s prisons are harsh, with inadequate food and health care that falls short of the minimum requirements set out in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and other international standards.
Many prisoners of conscience have been held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods as a punishment and have been subjected to ill-treatment, including beatings by prison guards and by other prisoners with prison guards failing to intervene, the London-based human rights organization said in the report.
Some prisoners of conscience are frequently moved from one detention facility to another, often without their families being informed of the change in their whereabouts, it noted.
Vietnam ratified the Convention against Torture which came into effect in February 2015, however, the communist government has taken insufficient steps to bring the country into compliance with its obligations under that treaty, Amnesty International concluded.