Amnesty International Report 1998 - Viet Nam

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

At least 49 prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience continued to be held throughout the year. One prisoner of conscience was tried. Two prisoners of conscience were released. One political prisoner was known to have been arrested. At least 56 people were sentenced to death. Nine people were officially reported to have been executed, but the actual number was believed to be much higher.

In September members of the National Assembly elected in July approved the appointment of a new President, Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, and other ministerial changes. In December General Le Kha Phieu replaced Do Muoi as Secretary General of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. New legislation was introduced in April providing for restrictions, including up to two years' monitoring, on people alleged to have acted unlawfully who are not formally prosecuted. Restrictive regulations limiting freedom of expression were issued throughout the year on the use of the media, cooperation with foreign media and the activities of foreign journalists. The government ran national campaigns against corruption and "social evils" such as drug abuse. Serious social unrest provoked by economic difficulties and alleged fraud and corruption by local officials in the northern province of Thai Binh was reported in May and June, and again in November. Allegedly violent demonstrations involving thousands of people were reported in southern Dong Nai province in November, reportedly instigated by local corruption and the confiscation of land. Lack of official information and restrictions on freedom of expression made obtaining details of human rights violations difficult.

At least 49 prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience arrested in previous years continued to be detained. Dr Nguyen Dan Que, sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in 1991 after founding the High Tide of Humanism movement, an unauthorized organization calling for peaceful political and economic change, was reported to be in deteriorating health. The charges against him included membership of Amnesty International (see Amnesty International Reports 1991 and 1992). Suffering from severe dental problems, he was unable to eat solid foods and had recurrent duodenal ulcers (see Amnesty International Report 1996). The health of Dong Tuy, sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment for his membership of the Movement to Unite the People and Build Democracy, continued to give cause for concern (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997). Six other members of the Movement imprisoned with Dong Tuy included its leader, Nguyen Dinh Huy, a professor of English and history sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in 1995

Prisoners of conscience held for their religious beliefs remained in detention. They included two leaders of the unofficial Unified Buddhist Church of Viet Nam (ubcv): its Supreme Patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, held without charge or trial for almost 13 years, and its Secretary-General, Thich Quang Do, serving a five-year sentence. Six members of the Catholic Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix were reported to be suffering from poor health including general weakness, severe arthritis, high blood pressure and heart conditions (see Amnesty International Report 1996). Throughout the year the government denied that it held any political prisoners

In October Nguyen Hoi was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for "abusing freedom and democratic rights and violating interests of the state and social organizations", after being detained without trial for two years. According to an official report, he had been arrested in October 1995 with newsletters containing articles which criticized the government and its policies on religion. He was accused of being a member of the unofficial ubcv. He was believed to be a prisoner of conscience.

Two prisoners of conscience were released during the year. Le Hong Ha, a former Interior Ministry official and senior member of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, had been arrested in December 1995 and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in August 1996 for divulging national secrets (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997). He was released in August, four months before the end of his sentence. Pham Duc Kham, co-author of Freedom Forum, a newsletter critical of the government, was arrested in 1990 and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in March 1993. He had been in poor health in detention (see Amnesty International Report 1997). He was released at the beginning of September, five years before the expiry of his sentence, and allowed to join his family in the usa. According to a Foreign Ministry official, his sentence was shortened under a presidential amnesty for National Day and because of his "good behaviour while serving his sentence". It was also learned that prisoner of conscience Brother Vu Thanh Dat (Hai) had been released in late 1996. A member of the Catholic Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, he had been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 1987 (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997)

In October the editor of a business newspaper, Nguyen Hoang Linh, was arrested for allegedly violating laws relating to national secrets. The precise charges against him were not known. He had been demoted from his post as editor-in-chief in September after he had written a series of articles alleging that customs officials were corruptly involved in purchasing four patrol boats. At the end of the year he remained in detention without trial. He was a possible prisoner of conscience.

At least 56 people were sentenced to death. In January, six men were sentenced to death in two separate trials for the economic offences of embezzlement and corruption. Both trials were widely publicized as part of the government campaign against corruption. In March Nguyen Thi Hiep, a Canadian woman of Vietnamese origin, was sentenced to death for drug-trafficking. In another showcase trial, seven men and two women, some of them public officials, were sentenced to death in May and June for involvement in drug-trafficking. Nine people were officially reported to have been executed, but it was believed that the actual number of executions was much higher. Duong The Tung was executed in April; he had been sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of a policeman and was reportedly tortured in custody (see Amnesty International Report 1997). In June, six men found guilty of murder and armed robbery were executed in Ho Chi Minh City, in front of thousands of people. Another man, Nguyen Nhan Tai, was executed in June in An Giang province for embezzlement. In August Phan Huu Ha was executed for murder in front of hundreds of people in Lao Cai province.

Throughout the year Amnesty International appealed for the release of all prisoners of conscience, and for an improvement in conditions of detention. The organization expressed concern at reported executions and called for the commutation of all death sentences and the abolition of the death penalty. In October the organization expressed concern about the arrest of newspaper editor Nguyen Hoang Linh and asked for further information about his detention. By the end of the year Amnesty International had received no response from the government.