Imprisoned Pastor Transferred to Another Prison and Under Solitary Punishment Since October 12, Family Uninformed about Moving

Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh at a trial in 2012

By Defend the Defenders, December 15, 2016

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has transferred imprisoner Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh to another prison without informing his family, said his wife Tran Thi Hong, who is a member of unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights.

On December 11, Mrs. Hong went to An Phuoc Prison in the southern province of Binh Phuoc to visit her husband, however, the prison’s authorities said he was transferred to another detention facility. They refused to tell her in which prison he was moved to.

After two days of seeking him in different prisons in the southern region, finally she found that he is held in a solitary cell in Xuan Loc Prison in Long Khanh district, Dong Nai province, further from their province of Gia Lai.

Authorities of Xuan Loc Prison told her that they did not inform her about his transfer because he refused to confess his activities by which he was sentenced as wrongdoings. For the same reason, he has not been allowed to make a telephone call to his family, as most prisoners can.

At a short meeting with Mrs. Hong, pastor Chinh said he has been placed in a solitary cell since October 12. The prison’s authorities have not allowed him to pray, he added.

Mrs. Hong said her husband’s health is critical as he has not received any medical treatment for a number of serious diseases, including high pressure and sinusitis. He is unlikely to survive for other six years in the prison, she said.

Authorities of Xuan Loc Prison have not allowed Hong to send clothes and medicine drugs for her husband, she said.

Pastor Chinh, who is serving his 11-year sentence in the prison, is constant subject to torture and degrading treatment of prisons under the Ministry of Public Security.

Earlier this year when he was held in An Phuoc Prison, he was supplied food which was mixed with tiny glass particles and copper wire while the drinking water provided for prisoners of conscience had a strange smell so it may be intentionally contaminated with toxic chemical substances.

In addition, the prison authorities encouraged and used criminal prisoners to beat prisoners of conscience who bravely speak out to protest inhumane treatment in the prison.

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.

In An Phuoc Prison, 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. However, the inhumane treatment of the prison continued as the chief left the prison.

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 was held in An Phuoc Prison, 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.

Pastor Chinh is among 82 prisoners of conscience whom Amnesty International has urged Vietnam’s government to release unconditionally and immediately.

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.

Few prisoners of conscience have been pardoned although Vietnam has given amnesty for thousands of prisoners every year.