Jailed Young Activist Tran Hoang Phuc Asks His Mother to Supply Him with Detoxification Substances

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Young activist Tran Hoang Phuc, who was sentenced to six years in prison for his human rights and pro-democracy activities

Defend the Defenders, August 21, 2018

 

Young activist Tran Hoang Phuc, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in An Phuoc prison camp in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong, has asked his mother to supply him with substances for detoxification.

He made this request during a meeting with her mother on August 16, eight days after being sent to the prison from B14 temporary detention facility, his mother Huynh Thi Nghia told Defend the Defenders.

She said her son acts strangely, not like in previous visits. However, as their talks were closely monitored by prison’s guards, she couldnt ask him why he made such as request.

Phuc said he is permitted to receive limited number of books printed by the state’s publishing houses, and not allowed to get books in foreign languages.

Both B14 temporary detention facility and An Phuoc prison camp are under the authority of the Ministry of Public Security.

An Phuoc prison camp is the facility holding many political prisoners, including Dinh Dang Dinh, a chemical teacher who was convicted and sentenced because of voicing against China-invested bauxite mining project in the Central Highlands.

Mr. Dinh, who was sentenced to six years in prison on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code, died in March 2014, one month after being released from prison. He died from stomach cancer and he suspected that the disease was caused by chemical-tainted food supplied by the authorities in An Phuoc prison camp.

It is worth noting that political prisoner Huynh Anh Tri, who was freed in early 2014 after spending 14 years in prison on charge of terrorism and subversion, died in July in the same year from HIV disease. He suffered from the deadly disease afterbeingplaced in the same cell with HIV-infected inmates while serving his imprisonment in Xuan Loc Prison camp (Z230) located in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Former political prisoner Tran Hoang Giang, Tri’s fellow, said hundreds of prisoners were forced to use the same razor blade so disease transmission is common in Vietnamese prisons.