Prisoner of Conscience Tran Huynh Duy Thuc Conducts Hunger Strike  

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Mr. Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, the most famous prisoner of conscience in Vietnam

Defend the Defenders, August 19, 2018

 

Entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who is serving his 16-year imprisonment on allegation of subversion in Prison camp No. 6 located in the central province of Nghe An, has carried out a hunger strike since August 14.

The hunger strike aims to protest the pressure of the prison’s authorities who want the activist to confess wrongdoing in exchange for amnesty.

Mr. Thuc, 52, was arrested in January 2010 on charge of “carrying out activities aiming to overthrow the government” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.

According to the 2015 Penal Code, he would be charged with “attempts to overthrow the government” with a prison sentence of between one and five years. If the new law is applied to his case, he should be released right now since he has been imprisoned more than seven years.

However, Vietnam’s regime wants him to admit wrongdoings so they can release him.

Lawyer Ngo Ngoc Trai, one of his attorneys, has submitted a number of requests asking Vietnam’s authorities to apply new articles, particularly Article 15 and 109 of the 2015 Penal Code in Thuc’s case, however, they have ignored his requests.

Mr. Thuc told his family that he will never make a false confession nor accept pardon but to be released unconditionally.

He has reportedly refused being released in exchange for exile in a foreign country.

His family said he has stopped eating since mid-August. Before that, he refused the prison’s food and took only the food supplied by his family.

His health is poor now, the family said after visiting him in prison on August 18.

Thuc reportedly said he will stop eating for ten days in a bid to request Vietnam’s authorities to respect the country’s law and release all prisoners of conscience who were convicted on “attempting to overthrow the government” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code and Article 109 of the 2015 Penal Code. However, he would extend his hunger strike if his requests are not met on August 23.

In order to force him to confess, the authorities in the prison limit his right to write letters to his family and send petitions to state agencies, particularly only one person from his family can receive his letters and he can only send his petitions to one state agency and two petitions a month. The prison authorities have kept his petitions to the state president and four petitions to the Supreme People’s Court and the People’s Court of Nghe An.

This is one of a number of hunger strikes Mr. Thuc has been made in the last few years to protest inhumane treatments of the prison’s authorities.