NHỮNG VỤ ÁN
Human Rights Watch Urges Immediate Release of Ha Si Phu
May 31, 2000
New York (May 31, 2000)
- Human Rights Watch today called for the immediate release of
Vietnamese dissident Ha Sy Phu. Police in Lam Dong province put Mr. Ha
under house arrest on May 12, 2000, and threatened to charge him with
treason under Article 72 of Vietnam's Criminal Code. If put on trial and
convicted, Mr. Ha could face a sentence from seven years' imprisonment
to the death penalty.
Vietnamese authorities
apparently believe that Mr. Ha is connected to the drafters of an open
appeal for greater democracy being prepared by some intellectual
dissidents. Mr. Ha is a biologist and former vice-director of the
Vietnamese Institute of Science in Dalat.
"Unless there is clear
evidence that Mr. Ha committed criminal acts, he should be immediately
released," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington Director of the Asia
Division of Human Rights Watch. "It is a violation of international law
and the Vietnamese Constitution to detain anyone simply for the peaceful
expression of his political views."
On April 28, police
searched Mr. Ha's house in Dalat, Lam Dong province, and confiscated his
work materials including computer, printer, and diskettes. On May 12
police returned to notify Mr. Ha of two written decisions, both signed
on May 10 by Col. Nguyen Van Do, police chief of Lam Dong province.
Decision 01/QD orders the house arrest of Mr. Ha and requires that he
report to the Dalat police headquarters on a daily basis for
interrogation. Decision 07/QD calls for Mr. Ha to be tried for treason
against the nation under Article 72 of the Criminal Code. However, thus
far no court has issued an arrest warrant and he has not been formally
charged.
The police action took
place after the authorities searched the house of another government
critic, Mai Thai Linh, formerly a member of the Communist Party of
Vietnam and People's Committee in Lam Dong province. In Linh's house,
police found a letter from Mr. Ha and a copy of a dissent statement.
Last year, when police searched the house of Hanoi dissident Nguyen
Thanh Giang, they found a letter requesting Giang to gather signatures
on the dissent statement, which led to Giang's arrest in March 1999.
Mr. Ha is a member of a
group of intellectual dissidents in Dalat and author of various
critiques of the Communist system. In December 1995 he was arrested and
charged with "revealing state secrets" for being in possession of a
letter from then-Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet to the Politburo, calling
for political and economic reforms. Mr. Ha was imprisoned without trial
until August 1996, when he was sentenced to one year in prison. After
his release, he returned to his home in Dalat, where he has lived under
unofficial house arrest ever since. His telephone line has been
monitored and his home placed under surveillance. Security police have
periodically searched his house and confiscated his computer and
personal papers - twice within the last twelve months alone.
"The Vietnamese
government should release all political prisoners and stop persecuting
individuals for peaceful political dissent," said Jendrzejczyk.
For more information
contact:
Mike Jendrzejczyk
(Washington, DC):(o)+1 202-612-4341; (h)+1 301-585-5824
Jean-Paul Marthoz (Brussels): (o)+32 2-732-2009
(www.fva.org)
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