Latest Convictions Reflect Crackdown on Freedom of Expression and Association in Vietnam
Washington
Freedom House condemns the conviction and harsh sentencing of four pro-democracy activists in Vietnam and the Communist Party’s ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and association.
The activists, including human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh and well-known blogger and entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, received harsh sentences spanning five to sixteen years, the longest of which was received by Thuc. Three of the activists were charged with violating Article 19 of Vietnam’s criminal code, which bans “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.” Mr. Dinh was charged with violating Article 79 of the criminal code, specifically participating in the Democratic Party of Vietnam and calling for multiparty elections, a more serious offense.
“The sentences handed down today demonstrate a deep-seated fear on the part of Vietnam’s authoritarian rulers that their own citizens might exercise basic democratic rights,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “In the past few years, we have seen an increase in the level of government repression in Vietnam as citizens have become more vocal and active in demanding change. It is disturbing that 2010 is starting out the same way.”
In Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2010 report released last week, Vietnam received a downward trend arrow due to a serious tightening of space for civil society to comment on and criticize the government in 2009, including the banning of private think tanks and arrests of prominent reform advocates.
Vietnam is ranked Not Free in Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom House's survey of political rights and civil liberties, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2009.
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Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.
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