Case History: Nguyen Van Dai

On 5 April 2018, a Ha Noi court found Nguyễn Văn Đài, Trương Minh Đức, Nguyễn Trung Tôn, Nguyễn Bắc Truyển, Lê Thu Hà, and Pham Văn Trội guilty of “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.” On 10 and 11 April 2018, courts in Thai Binh and Nghe An found Nguyễn Văn Tuc and Trần Thị Xuân guilty of the same offence. Lengthy sentences were handed down by the court to the eight human rights defenders, who are all members of Brotherhood for Democracy.

Brotherhood for Democracy is an association of Vietnamese activists founded in April 2013. In an effort to promote democracy and human rights in Vietnam, the association provides human rights training and education to Vietnamese citizens throughout the country. Brotherhood for Democracy assists victims of government corruption, land appropriation, and corporate negligence to file legal suits in defense of their rights.

Nguyễn Văn Đài, a human rights attorney and founding member of Brotherhood for Democracy, received the longest sentence: 15 years’ imprisonment and 5 years’ probation. Nguyễn Văn Tuc, deputy head of Brotherhood for Democracy, was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and 3 years’ probation. Journalist Trương Minh Đức and pastor Nguyễn Trung Tôn each received sentences of 12 years, along with 3 years’ probation. 11 years’ imprisonment and 3 years’ probation were handed down to lawyer Nguyễn Bắc Truyển. Lê Thu Hà, secretary and translator for the Brotherhood for Democracy, received a 9 year sentence with 2 years’ probation, while engineer Pham Văn Trội was sentenced to 7 years in prison and 1 year probation. Activist Trần Thị Xuân, whose trial took place without any prior notice to her family, was sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment and 5 years’ probation.

“Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” is one of the most severe allegations human rights defenders face in Vietnam. The charge has been widely criticized as being both overly vague and unreasonably punitive. Those found to be the “main perpetrators” can be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or between twelve and twenty years in prison. To date, the charge has been used extensively against dissidents and pro-democracy activists, despite scant evidence of perpetrators’ intention to “overthrow the people’s administration”. The charge against one defender tried on 5 April in Ha Noi was “conducting English classes” for members of the Brotherhood for Democracy, along with translating reports for foreign donors.

Under Vietnamese law, the human rights defenders have fifteen days to appeal the court’s decision.

Nguyễn Văn Đài and Lê Thu Hà had been awaiting trial since their arrest in December 2015. Trương Minh Đức, Nguyễn Bắc Truyển, and Pham Văn Trội also had prolonged detentions; they were arrested in July 2017 following coordinated actions across three cities. Nguyễn Văn Tuc had been held in detention since 1 September 2017 and Trần Thị Xuân had been detained since 17 October 2017.

The human rights defenders were granted extremely limited access to their families and to their legal counsel during their detentions. In some cases, the human rights defenders’ family members were never formally notified of the trial’s date. Trần Thị Xuân’s family learned about her 12 April trial only after it ended, and the human rights defender’s legal counsel was not present during the court proceedings.

Front Line Defenders calls on the Vietnamese authorities to rescind the court’s decision and to quash the sentences against Nguyễn Văn Đài, Trương Minh Đức, Nguyễn Bắc Truyển, Lê Thu Hà, Nguyễn  Trung Tôn, Pham Văn Trội, Nguyễn Văn Tuc, and Trần Thị Xuân. Front Line Defenders believes that the allegations are solely intended to stop the peaceful work of these human rights defenders.

15 May 2017 marks one month since human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai last accepted a food package from his family. According to the authorities at the Hanoi-based B14 detention facility, Nguyen Van Dai has since rejected food supplements from his relatives, in a likely bid to protest the extension of his pre-trial detention. On 21 April 2017, the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam extended the investigation period into Nguyen Van Dai by two months, bringing his total pre-trial detention to 18 months.

In a letter sent to Nguyen Van Dai’s lawyer Ha Huy Son dated 21 April 2017, the Supreme People’s Procuracy announced it had extended the investigation period prior to the Court taking up the case by two months. Nguyen Van Dai has been held in Hanoi since 16 December 2015, after he was arrested by the police for “conducting propaganda against the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, which falls under article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code. After the initial four months pre-trial detention period ended, the police extended it three times for four months each. The investigation period was supposed to end on 16 April 2017. The Court will only take up the case once the investigation is over, leaving Nguyen Van Dai behind bars. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Since his arrest, Nguyen Van Dai has not been allowed to meet with his lawyer, while his wife has only been permitted to visit him twice, on 16 December 2015 and on 17 January 2017. According to the Vietnamese Code of Criminal Procedure, Nguyen Van Dai’s lawyers will be allowed to meet with him to prepare his defence once the police agency completes its investigation.

The conditions in Vietnamese jails and detention facilities are extremely poor and families of prisoners often have to provide food packages for them periodically. Prisoners are also allowed to receive money from their relatives to purchase food and other items at the jail’s canteens, which often sell substandard goods at prices much higher than those in the market.  Nguyen Van Dai’s rejection of food packages from his family points to a worrying development and there are legitimate fears for his health.

On 3 April 2017, Nguyen Van Dai was awarded the 2017 Human Rights prize by the German Association of Judges. His wife Vu Minh Khanh was blocked at Noi Bai airport on her way to attend the event in Germany.

Front Line Defenders condemns the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam’s decision to extend the pre-trial detention of Nguyen Van Dai and urges the Vietnamese authorities to drop all charges brought against him, as it believes they are directly linked to his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights in Vietnam.
 

On 16 December 2015, Nguyen Van Dai was arrested by the police for "conducting propaganda against the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam", which falls under article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code. The house of the human rights defender was searched and several belongings were confiscated, including: two laptops, one desktop computer, several USB sticks, a camera, two camcorders, books on human rights, four envelopes containing money that Nguyen Van Dai uses to support relatives of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, and his savings account’s bank book. The human rights defender will be temporarily jailed for four months at the B14 Prison in Hanoi. His case is currently under investigation and if convicted he could face up to twenty years in prison.

This is not the first time Nguyen Van Dai has been detained by Vietnamese authorities. He was arrested in 2007 on charges of propaganda against the state and spent four years in prison, and then spent a further four years under house arrest. Despite an official release from house arrest in March 2015, the human rights defender has been kept under police surveillance.

The situation for human rights defenders in Vietnam has become increasingly tense in recent months, as the Vietnamese government has tightened control ahead of the ruling communist party’s National Congress in January 2016. There is a persistent pattern, in recent months, of physical assaults against human rights defenders and bloggers which are perpetrated either by police officers or unidentified people against government critics and social activists.

Former prisoners of conscience Do Thi Minh Hanh, Truong Minh Duc, Tran Minh Nhat, Chu Manh Son and Tran Duc Thach, human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai, Tran Thu Nam and Le Van Luan, bloggers Truong Van Dung, Tran Thi Nga, Truong Minh Huong and Nguyen Tuong Thuy are among the victims of the intensified persecution by Vietnam’s security forces, which strive to prevent the formation of any opposition parties or movements.