Dong Nai Police Seek to Arrest Labor Activist Doan Huy Chuong While Still Illegally Holding His Father in Custody

Labor activist Doan Huy Chuong and his father Doan Van Dien. Both are former prisoners of conscience serving total 13 years in jail between 2007 and 2017.

Defend the Defenders, January 21, 2018

Police in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai have sought to arrest former prisoner of conscience Doan Huy Chuong after detaining his father Doan Van Dien since December 24 last year without issuing arrest warrant.

The family of Chuong, who is a vice president of unsanctioned Viet Labor Movement, informed him that police have come to their private residence in Ho Chi Minh City to seek for him.

Police asked the family and neighbors where is he now, saying they would detain him. However, they have not disclosed the reason for the move, Chuong told Defend the Defenders.

Currently, Chuong is hiding in a bid to avoid being caught.

Meanwhile, police still hold Mr. Dien, who is a Protestant pastor and former prisoner of conscience.

In 2006, Mr. Dien and his son Chuong established the unregistered United Workers-Farmers Organization which aimed to fight for the rights of the two working classes. They were arrested one week later and convicted of “abusing democracy freedom” under Article 258 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code. Mr. Dien was sentenced to four years and six months in jail while Chuong was given to 18 months in prison.

After being released, Chuong and Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung and Do Thi Minh Hanh formed the unregistered Viet Labor Movement to work for promoting workers’ rights. The organization strived to educate workers about their rights, including the right to hold public demonstration to demand for higher salary and better working conditions.

With their assistance, workers in some foreign-invested firms in the southern region held strikes in late 2009.

The trio was arrested in 2009 and charged with “Disrupting security” under Article 89 of the 1999 Penal Code. In October 2010, Mr. Hung was sentenced to nine years in prison while Chuong and Hanh were given seven years in jail each.

Chuong completed his sentence in February last year while Hung is still in prison. Hanh was released after spending four years in jail thanks to international pressure on Vietnam’s government.

In 2013, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a statement considering the trio’s arrest arbitrary and requested Vietnam’s government to release them immediately and unconditionally. However, Hanoi remained silent about the case, like other cases.

Since being released, Chuong continues to work on union affairs in the country where the state-controlled Vietnam General Confederation of Labour has not really worked for the workers’ rights.

He has been under constant harassment of police where he is residing, in HCM City or Dong Nai province. He has been summoned many times to police station for interrogation about his activities.

The detention of his father aims to force him to show up so they can arrest him, Chuong affirmed.

For more information about Chuong, please go to Defend the Defenders’ website: /category/doan-huy-chuong/