Vietnam Continues Persecution against Brotherhood for Democracy, Arresting Its 7th Member

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuc (middle) with other former prisoners of conscience Nguyen Van Dai (first from left, Nguyen Trung Ton (second from right)

Defend the Defenders, September 1, 2017

Vietnam’s communist government continues its persecution against Brotherhood for Democracy, arresting its 7th member Nguyen Van Tuc, who is also a former prisoner of conscience.

Mr. Tuc was detained on September 1 and charged with “conducting activities aiming to overthrow the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code.

His family informed that authorities in Dong Hung district, Thai Binh province, invited him and other farmers to the headquarters of the district People’s Committee in the Friday’s morning to work on land issue. However, the meeting was cancelled unexpectedly and when Mr. Tuc left the building of the district People’s Committee, he was detained by plainclothes agents.

At the same, authorities in Thai Binh deployed over 100 policemen to his private house in Dong La commune to search the house. They took some items at the presence of his wife Bui Thi Re.

Later, the Police department in the province announced on its website that Mr. Tuc was arrested and charged with subversion.

He will be held incommunicado during the investigation period which can last from four months to two years, a common practice in political cases.

Mr. Tuc, born in 1964, was arrested in September 2008 for spreading leaflets protesting China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty and calling for multi-party democracy. He was charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code. Later, he was sentenced to four years in prison and three years under house arrest.

After being released in 2012, he continued his activities to promote human rights and work for multi-party democracy. He joined Brotherhood for Democracy, an online group co-established by imprisoned human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai.

Mr. Tuc is the 7th member of Brotherhood for Democracy arrested during the ongoing persecution of Vietnam’s communist government against local political dissidents, human rights defenders, social activists and bloggers several months ahead of APEC Summit slated in the central city of Danang in November.

On July 30, the Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security arrested Nguyen Trung Ton, president of Brotherhood for Democracy, Pham Van Troi, former president of the organization, Truong Minh Duc, and Nguyen Bac Truyen, co-founder of the organization but left it several years ago.

Few days later, police in the central province of Quang Binh also arrested Nguyen Trung Truc, spokesman of the organization.

The newly-arrested, together with imprisoned Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha, are charged with subversion under Article 79. In addition, Dai and Ha are charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, the first charge when the duo was arrested in late 2015.

Vietnam’s ruling communist party is striving to keep the country under a one-party regime and requests the police forces to make all efforts to prevent the establishment of opposition party. It considers Brotherhood for Democracy as its potential political threat.

In June-July, Vietnam sentenced human rights defenders Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in prison and Tran Thuy Nga to nine years in jail and four years under house arrest on allegation of anti-state propaganda under Article 88.

A number of other activists, including Le Dinh Luong, Luu Van Vinh, and Tran Hoang Phuc, were arrested and charged with allegations under Article 88 and 79 in 2016-2017.

According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding around 90 prisoners of conscience.