Vietnam Pro-democracy Leader Held under House Arrest ahead of Group Establishment

nguyen van dai

Two years after being freed, Mr. Dai formed the Brotherhood of Democracy with hundreds of young members and thousands of supporters, mostly students. The group has vowed to use peaceful measures to promote multi-party democracy and human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.

By Vu Quoc Ngu | Apr 21, 2015

Police in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have declared that they will not allow lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, a prominent pro-democracy figure, to go out this week to meet with other activists to commemorate the second anniversary of the Brotherhood of Democracy.

On Monday, four days ahead of the birthday of the group, police came to his private apartment in Hanoi and demanded him to stay inside during the whole week although his three-year house arrest ended in early March.

Along with harassing the group’s leader, police in Hanoi tried to prevent other members of the group from meeting to commemorate the anniversary. They ordered owners of local restaurants not to serve food for activists.

Mr. Dai, a lawyer by profession, was arrested in 2007 and charged with anti-state propaganda allegation under Article 88 of the Penal Code. The human rights activist was sentenced to four years in jail and additional three years under house arrest.

Two years after being freed, Mr. Dai formed the Brotherhood of Democracy with hundreds of young members and thousands of supporters, mostly students. The group has vowed to use peaceful measures to promote multi-party democracy and human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.

During his four-year house arrest, Hanoi’s police regularly sent their staff to monitor him, and closely followed him when he went out of Bach Khoa ward where he resides.

Mr. Dai was a subject of attack of hired thugs several times during the house arrest. In late 2013, thugs attacked him with glass at a local restaurant when he was with his fellows of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy. He received serious injuries in his head and needed to be hospitalized for treatment.

Mr. Dai was not allowed to visit friends outside of his ward. In February, he was detained in the local police station and fined with VND2.5 million for going to the private house of his friend Pham Hong Son in Ba Dinh district for health consultation. Mr. Son, who is a medical doctor by training, is also a former political prisoner.

In order to keep the country under one-party regime, Vietnam’s communist government has tolerated any dissent. In its 2014/2015 Report released on Feb. 25, the Amnesty International said Vietnam’s security officers harassed and physically attacked peaceful activists, and held them in short-term detention.