Posted
on January 5, 2016
.
Tran Minh Nhat
Although
Tran Minh Nhat, a former prisoner of conscience who was freed last month after
four years in prison, it appears authorities are not letting up on him, he
says. In an email to Asia Sentinel, Nhat said that although he was able
to spend Christmas and New Year with his family, he and other family members
have been continually harassed by thugs believed to be hired by police who
destroyed his property and threw rocks at his house.
Nhat
was one of 14 Vietnamese Catholic and Protestant bloggers, writers and
political activists who were convicted in 2011 in a sensational trial in which
they were accused of plotting to overthrow the government via links to the
California-based Viet Tan, the Vietnam Reform Party, which is banned in the
country itself. The mass conviction was the largest such show trial to be
prosecuted in recent years. The defendants apparently had attended a training
course in Bangkok held by Viet Tan.
In the
1980s, Viet Tan led a resistance movement against the Vietnamese Communist
government, but for the past few decades it has declared that it is committed
to peaceful political reform, democracy and human rights. Nguyen Thi Hue, a
defense lawyer, told The Associated Press at the time of the two-day trial in
the city of Vinh, in Nghe An Province that three defendants had been sentenced
to 13 years and that 11 others had received terms of three to eight years. One
of the three-year terms was suspended.
Nhat
apparently was released early. He told local media that he was repeatedly asked
to sign a confession but refused to do. Local media said he and
others staged a hunger strike in prison to demand better treatment for inmates.
Although
Vietnam appears to be slowly letting up, there are still incidents in which
local police hire thugs to seek to quell dissent with their fists, particularly
in property confiscation cases. Tran Minh Nhat is such a case, as was Nguyen Van Dai, a human rights
lawyer and three friends who were attacked by as many as 20 plainclothes
policemen while they were returning home to Hanoi after leading a forum in Nghe
An Province after facilitating a human rights forum in Nam Dan district, 300
km. south near the Laotian border.
David
Brown, a former US diplomat who writes regularly for Asia Sentinel, wrote
recently that “In their zeal to simplify, both the Vietnamese party-state’s
ideological guardians and its most vocal foreign critics obscure the real
story: that though law and ideology have been slow to change, de
facto the citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have become, in
the last couple of decades and particularly in the last few years, remarkably more
free to manage their own lives.”
Vietnam,
Brown wrote, is no longer an insular state. Some 44 percent of citizens are now
online and the regime has given up trying to block access to Facebook.
Young,
mainly urban Vietnamese keep pushing back against arbitrary restrictions. Some
pointedly question abuse of police power, but many more, presumably with less
forethought, just resist being herded. Also, voluntary groups are emerging as
significant actors in public life. They address the needs of an
increasingly complex society. By law, all organizations must be
approved by the state and are subject to state supervision. Some professional
organizations, like the Lawyers Association or the Chamber of Commerce, have
achieved substantial autonomy within that framework.
Thugs allegedly hired by police destroy
property, throw rocks at his house
Hardliners
have continued to give ground, although they insist that the regime’s internal
security agencies must deal harshly with citizens who speak up for political
pluralism.
Nhat is
one of those who is paying the price for that. He is a member of the Roman
Catholic Church’s Redemptorist group, which
has been active in movements for democracy and human rights. Redemptorist
activists have become increasingly assertive in Vietnamese movements fighting
for democracy and human rights.
Human
Rights Watch describes the Redemptorists as being known for strongly backing
bloggers and other peaceful religious and rights activists. They
have become a growing voice among movements for democracy and human rights,
particularly in Nghe An, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh
City. Religiously affiliated activists have been targeted
for arrest and other
forms of harassment and
intimidation, including restrictions on movement, violent assaults on
individuals, and the deployment of armed security forces around churches.
“I am a
social and religious activist and a reporter for Vietnam Redemptorist News,”
Nhat said in his email. “Our high-profile case reflected the human rights
violations occurring in Vietnam.”
Although
he was allowed to spend the Christmas and New Year holiday with his family, the
visit was continually disrupted by the work of thugs hired by police, he said.
‘On Dec. 24, my older brother, Tran Khac Dat, informed me that more than 155
robusta coffee plants and 11 avocado trees were chopped on his property in Lam
Ha. There were clear signs that these crops were chopped using an axe. Upon
further inspection, it was observed that long irrigation pipes were tampered
with which meant they require replacing.”
Two
days later, he said, he discovered that pepper vines on his own property “were
mysteriously and completely harvested. There was evidence of intrusion of
property with parts of fencing surrounding the crops being cut through. As of
today, more than 400 pepper vines were chemically poisoned and are currently
dying.”
On
Jan.1, another older brother, Tran Khac Duong, discovered that 382 of his
pepper vines in his Lam Ha property were also chemically poisoned. Some further
surrounding vines were also contaminated and destroyed by chemicals. Thirty of
his pepper vines were also chopped down in the previous month.
On Jan.
2, he said, “I was investigating some sounds of intrusion onto our property
when two rocks were thrown at my house at approximately 10:30pm. This
caused my parents to be severely distraught and fearful of their safety during
the night even within our own household. We have reported the incidents
mentioned above to the police and have not received any response from them.”
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