WiPC 2009 Resolution: Viet Nam

The Assembly of Delegates of International PEN, meeting at its 75th International Congress in Linz, Austria, 19-25 October 2009

Concerned that, in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Viet Nam (SRV) continues to suppress the right to freedom of expression and opinion, through application of problematic articles of its Penal Code, in particular, Article 88 ‘'Propaganda against the State'' providing sentences of up to 20 years in prison and Article 258 ‘‘Abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the State interests'', up to seven years in prison;

Deeply disturbed that prisoners of opinion and conscience serve their sentences in forced labour camps under deplorable conditions. They are often held in solitary confinement or in crowded and insanitary cells with criminals. Some of them are victims of physical aggression and ill-treatment, suffering of chronic diseases and absence of adequate medical care. Upon release, former prisoners serve one to five more years in probationary detention, under Article 38 of Penal Code;

Deploring that, during the Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in May 2009, Viet Nam (SRV) refused several Recommendations from other States including those calling for the abolition of the vague ‘‘national security'' provisions of the Penal Code (Articles 38, 88 and 258) and Ordinance 44 authorizing administrative detention without trial and placing dissidents in psychiatric hospitals; as well as those urging Viet Nam to ensure the media's independence and to issue a standing invitation to all Special Procedures, in particular, those scrutinising freedom of expression, freedom of religion and torture;

Shocked and indignant at the widespread crackdown in August-September 2008 and the relentless and persistent persecution of writers, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression;

Condemns the on-going practice of house arrest, lengthy preventive detention, heavy prison sentences, unfair trials and lack of independent defence lawyers and observers. Among others:

Dang Phuc Tuê (religious name Ven Thich Quang Dô), 81-year-old, Buddhist monk, poet and intellectual, house arrest since 2003;
Nguyên Van Ly, priest and editor of the clandestine review Freedom of Opinion, eight years' imprisonment; Nguyên Phong and Nguyên Binh Thanh, co-editors, six and five years in prison;
Lê Thi Công Nhân (f) and Nguyên Van Dài, human rights lawyers and cyberdissidents, three and four years in prison, in very poor health;
Lê Thi Kim Thu (f), independent reporter and cyberdissident, eighteen months in prison;
Lê Nguyên Sang, physician, Nguyên Bac Truyên and Trân Quôc Hiên, human rights lawyers, cyberdissidents, four, three and five years in prison;
Truong Quôc Huy and Pham Ba Hai , cyberdissidents, six and five years in prison;
Truong Minh Duc and Nguyên Van Hai (blogger Diêu Cày), independent journalists, five and two years and six months in prison, in very poor health;
Pham Thanh Nghiên (f), independent journalist and cyberdissident, detained since 17 September 2008, in very poor health;
Nguyên Xuân Nghia, poet, writer and cyberdissident, six years in prison, in very poor health;
Vu Van Hung, teacher, writer and human rights defender, three years in prison, tortured in detention, in very poor health;
Ngô Quynh and Pham Van Trôi, Nguyên Van Tuc and Trân Duc Thach, writers and poets, cyberdissidents, respectively three, four, four and three years in prison;
Nguyên Van Tinh, teacher, co-editor of the clandestine review the Nation, three years in prison;
Nguyên Kim Nhan, dissident writer and human rights defender, two years in prison;
Nguyên Manh Son, poet and cyberdissident, three years in prison;
Trân Huynh Duy Thuc and Lê Thang Long, Trân Thi Thu (f) and Lê Thi Thu Thu (f), cyberdissidents and human rights defenders, arrested on 24 May and 4 June 2009;
Lê Công Dinh, human rights lawyer and cyberdissident, arrested on 13 June 2009;
Nguyên Tiên Trung and Trân Anh Kim, cyberdissidents, arrested on 7 July 2009;

Alarmed by the fact that some human rights lawyers have been subjected to unbearable pressures (harassment, threat) to give up the cases of persons accused of opinion offence while their fellow lawyers are serving their prison sentences or under preventive detention;

Dismayed by severe censorship of media and on Internet, blocking access to public spaces that promote a culture of peace and human rights, identify administrative corruption and social injustice or debate State policies;

Urges the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to:

  1. release, immediately and unconditionally, all persons, notably the above-mentioned writers, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders, currently in prison or under house arrest for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression;
  2. cease all attacks, harassment, threat of house arrest or preventive detention against all persons who hold dissenting views or who call for freedom of religion and respect of human rights;
  3. lift all restrictions imposed on former prisoners of opinion and conscience, including those who have served prison terms for exercising their right of freedom of expression;
  4. improve conditions in prisons and in labour camps, including an end to acts of aggression perpetrated by common criminal detainees, and allow sick prisoners to be hospitalized, to receive adequate medical care and to facilitate their family visits;
  5. discontinue the practice of people's tribunals which do not comply with international standards of fair trial set forth in Article 14 of ICCPR;
  6. abolish all censorship and lift all restrictions on freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of the press, freedom to create and to publish, the right to be informed by all means including the Internet, and freedom of association, in compliance with the Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the ICCPR.