Council for a Community of Democracies

Pro-Democracy Groups Organize Countrywide Leaflet Drop; Vietnam Sentences More Activists
February 23, 2010
By: Randi Zung

On February 14, AFP reported that two pro-democracy organizations – US-based Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) – joined forced to disseminate pro-democracy leaflets in communist Vietnam. In a statement, the coalition force stated that they released leaflets all over the country to demonstrate that Vietnamese government officials “can never extinguish the movement for democracy and territorial protection of the fatherland even with their increased repression.”

On February 5, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was sentenced to three and half years in prison for assault. Thuy, an active pro-democracy activist since 2006, denied being guilty, stating that she and her husband, Do Ba Tan, were the victims in the attack, BBC News reports. Tan was given a two year suspended sentence and a three and half years probation. During the trial, Thuy was removed from the courtroom after an outburst in which she proclaimed that the charges were “a fabrication and total slander.”

Following the verdict, the couple’s defense lawyer, Tran Vu Hai stated that he expected Tan to appeal the sentence. He also said that he believed that Thuy would not appeal. The two were originally detained in October 2009. On January 29, Pham Thanh Nghien, another prominent female democracy activist was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years under house arrest for distributing anti-government propaganda, a violation of Article 88 of Vietnam’s penal code.

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, called for Thuy and Nghien’s release, stating: “Courageous women such as Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and Pham Thanh Nghien face years behind bars rather than being able to contribute to the country's development.” In addition, Human Rights Watch reports that Vietnam has a poor track record for inmate treatment, citing routine incidents of “beatings, electric shock, confinement in solitary, dark cells, and prolonged shackling.”

It is reported that at least seventeen democracy activists have been detained since October 2009.

Sources:

AFP - Democracy leaflets 'distributed in Vietnam'

BBC News - Vietnam jails dissident writer over attack

Human Rights Watch - Vietnam: Expanding Campaign to Silence Dissent