Dong Tam Citizen Trial: Rights Groups Call The UNHRC to Send Representatives to Vietnam

11 international organizations call UNHRC to send representatives to Vietnam.
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On the eve of a trial against land rights activists in Vietnam, eleven organizations call the UN Human Rights Council president to send representatives of the United Nations to ensure that the defendants have the right to a fair and open trial.

A PDF of the letter can be viewed here.

* * *

 

September 4, 2020

 

Ambassador Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger
President
Human Rights Council
United Nations
Geneva, Switzerland 

Re: Upcoming trial of Vietnamese residents of Dong Tam

We, the undersigned organizations, call on Ambassador Tichy-Fisslberger to denounce the upcoming trial against 29 Vietnamese citizens scheduled for September 7, 2020. These individuals tried to defend their property against government land grabs, but were arrested  during a police raid in Dong Tam, Vietnam on January 9, 2020. 

As we stated in the first joint letter sent in February this year, Vietnamese authorities sent over 3,000 riot police to Dong Tam Commune. Authorities raided the home of elder community leader Le Dinh Kinh and murdered him, then later arrested 29 people. This attack came after years of forced land acquisition disputes. 

Over the past nine months, none of the detained individuals were allowed to see their family. They were also barred from meeting their lawyers. After the investigation was completed, the defendants’ lawyers faced significant difficulties in obtaining trial documents and were barred from meeting with their clients. Furthermore, the court announced the trial would be open to the public, but family members of the 29 defendants have not received paperwork from the court allowing them to attend. 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam is a signatory, enumerates in Article 14 that a fair trial entails “adequate time and facilities for the preparation of [their] defence and to communicate with counsel of [their] own choosing.” These procedural guarantees have been consistently violated leading up to the trial of these 29 individuals, rendering claims against the defendants arbitrary.  

The Vietnamese authorities are attempting to suppress other information on the Dong Tam incident. In seeking justice for Le Dinh Kinh, a petition calling for an investigation into his death has been completely ignored by officials. His remaining family members have been harassed and intimidated by the authorities, who prevented them from speaking with the press. 

In addition, land rights activist Can Thi Theu and her two sons, Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu, were all detained on June 23, 2020. When the Vietnamese government restricted media coverage of the Dong Tam incident, these three activists used social media platforms to share stories about the people living in Dong Tam. Soon after the formal investigation of the Dong Tam incident was completed, the police summarily detained Can Thi Theu and her sons. The eldest son, Trinh Ba Phuong, captured his arrest live on video. It showed the police forcibly entering his home where his newborn child and wife were still resting in the early hours of the morning. Since the arrests, Trinh Ba Phuong’s wife has been harassed and interrogated by local authorities. The younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, has been on a hunger strike since August 7, 2020, to protest poor treatment in prison.

We are calling on Ambassador Tichy-Fisslberger and the United Nations Human Rights Council to:

  • Demand the Vietnamese government to conduct a fair and open trial allowing attendance from the defendants’ families, non-governmental organizations, and foreign journalists.
  • Demand the Vietnamese government to allow the defendants to meet their lawyers, and cease all harassment so they can properly meet and prepare a defense. 
  • Send UN representatives to observe and report on the trial to minimize risks of abuses of law occurring. 

 

Signed,

ACAT France (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)
ACAT Germany (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)
Bau Bi Tuong Than Association
Brotherhood for Democracy
Comité Suisse-Vietnam (Cosunam)
Destination Justice
Free Journalists Club
Reporters sans frontières (RSF)
Safeguard Defenders
Viet Tan
Watchdogs Unleashed

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