His
Excellency Ngo Anh Dung
Ambassador
of Vietnam in Cambodia
Embassy of Vietnam in Cambodia
436 Monivong Blvd
Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
11 January 2013
Open
Letter to His Excellency Ngo Anh Dung, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia,
calling for the guilty verdict in the case of 14 Vietnamese bloggers to be
overturned
Dear Ambassador,
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”)
would like to express grave concern regarding the case of fourteen Vietnamese
bloggers, who were sentenced on 9 January 2013 to jail terms ranging from three
to thirteen years after a two-day trial at the People’s Court in Nghe An
province in Vietnam. Human Rights Watch
has identified the fourteen as Dang Ngoc Minh, Dang Xuan Dieu, Ho Duc Hoa, Ho
Van Oanh, Le Van Son, Nguyen Dang Minh Man, Nguyen Dang Vinh Phuc, Nguyen Dinh
Cuong, Nguyen Van Duyet, Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Xuan Oanh, Nong Hung Anh, Thai
Van Dung, and Tran Minh Nhat. The
fourteen were charged after attending a training course in Bangkok, Thailand,
held by the outlawed California-based Viet Tan organization (or Vietnam Reform
Party), which has, since the 1980s, stated its commitment to peaceful political
reform, democracy and human rights in Vietnam.
Of the fourteen, eleven were charged with being Viet Tan members, and
three with actively participating in the organization. In sentencing the fourteen, the courts relied
upon Article 79 of Vietnam’s penal code, which ambiguously prohibits
activities aimed at “overthrowing the government”.
The charging and sentencing of the fourteen is
a violation of their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of
information. Both rights are protected
under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(the “ICCPR”) to which Vietnam acceded in 1982, and under Article 69 of the
Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which guarantees the
freedoms of opinion, speech, press and the right to be informed. Twelve of the fourteen are also members of the
Roman Catholic minority in Vietnam, affiliated with the Redemptorist Thai Ha
church in Hanoi and Ky Dong church in Ho Chi Minh City, which are known for
strongly backing bloggers and other peaceful religious and human rights
activists. We are also concerned,
therefore, about the state of non-discrimination rights for religious
minorities in Vietnam, which are legally protected by Article 27 of the ICCPR.
These charges come on the heel of a series of
convictions that testify to an increasing crackdown on the freedoms of
expression, information and online freedoms in Vietnam. Vietnamese songwriters, Vo Minh Tri and Tran
Vu Anh Binh, were jailed in October 2012, and three Vietnamese pro-democracy
bloggers – Nguyen Van Phan Hai, Thanh Hai and Ta Phong Tan – were jailed in
August 2012. Furthermore, the
prosecution’s condemnation of the online activity of the fourteen signals the
precarious state of human rights relating to the internet in Vietnam. On 6 July 2012 the United Nations Human
Rights Council adopted a new resolution on The Promotion, Protection and
Enjoyment of Human Rights on the lnternet. The purpose of the resolution is to affirm
that human rights and freedoms also apply online. Judicial harassment of free speech activists
in Vietnam who use the internet as a medium contravenes international trends to
protect online freedoms and to promote social media as a means of healthy
debate. Also contrary to international
trends is the Vietnamese government’s intention to adopt a new Decree on Management, Provision, and Use of
Internet Services and Information on the Network, which will strengthen the
apparatus to censor and criminalize online expression.
To demonstrate commitment to freedom of
expression, information and online freedoms, CCHR calls upon your Embassy to do
all in its power to pressure the Vietnamese judiciary to overturn the verdict
in this case and to have the fourteen bloggers immediately and unconditionally
released – in accordance with international law and Vietnamese domestic law. We should like to make you aware that CCHR
will release this letter to local and international media on 14 January 2013.
Yours sincerely,
Ou Virak
President
Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
No comments:
Post a Comment