Vietnam – Intimidation and harassment of human rights defender and his family

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January 7, 2016

Between 24 December 2015 and 2 January 2016, the human rights defender Mr Tran Minh Nhat and his family members were subjected to several acts of harassment.

They suffered the destruction of their crops, break-ins at their properties, deliberate damage to their irrigation equipment, and the stoning of their homes.

Tran Minh Nhat is a human rights defender involved in the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in Vietnam. He is also a reporter for Vietnam Redemptorist News. On 28 August 2015, he was released having served four years’ imprisonment for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration”.

On 2 January 2016, at approximately 10.30pm, the family home of Tran Minh Nhat was stoned by unknown individuals. On 1 January 2016, an older brother of the human rights defender discovered that a large number of pepper vines on his property in Lam Ha had been chemically poisoned. On 26 December 2015, the property of Tran Minh Nhat himself was broken into, and a large number of pepper vines were chemically poisoned. On 24 December 2016, a second brother of Tran Minh Nhat informed him that a large number of coffee plants and avocado trees had been chopped down on his property in Lam Ha, and that irrigation pipes on the property had been destroyed.

These acts of intimidation and harassment of Tran Minh Nhat and his family, which are alleged to have been perpetrated by individuals hired by the Vietnamese police, may signify the employment of a new tactic in the attempt to dissuade the human rights defender from the continuance of his legitimate human rights work. Previously, on 8 November 2015, the human rights defender was arrested alongside fellow human rights defender Mr Chu Manh Son, and detained by police. During their detention, Tran Minh Nhat was accused of acts of subversion, and both human rights defenders were physically assaulted.

Front Line Defenders expresses grave concern for these most recent attempts to impede Tran Minh Nhat in the carrying out of his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities, and voices particular concern for the physical and psychological safety of his family members, in light of the expansion of the harassment of the human rights defender to include intimidation of them.

Source: Front Line Defenders

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