Ngoc Nhi Nguyen (Danlambao) -
This morning, 26/08/2014, at the People's Court in Cao Lanh, Dong Thap
(address: No 1, Le Qui Don Street, Ward 1, Dist. Cao Lanh, Dong Thap
Province), the hearing of Bui Thi Minh Hang, Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh and
Nguyen Van Minh is due to start at 8 am.
More than a hundred of the 3 activists 's friends had traveled, some for
days before hand, to come to attend the trial, from as far north as Ha
Noi. However, almost all of them had been stopped, harassed, threatened,
barricaded, and even beaten up and arrested by the police. The
Vietnamese government is obviously too scared to allow its citizens to
even come near the building housing the Court room, let alone allowing
them inside to watch the proceed of the supposedly “open trial”.
Why is that? It is because all 3 people accused are actually innocent.
They were wrongly arrested and unjustly charged with “ disturbing public
order”. In fact, the whole arrest was planned out by the police,
orchestrated by both the Central Police Department in Ha Noi as well as
the local police office and the undercover security agency in Dong Thap.
Evidences were planted and fabricated, the detainees were threatened
and beaten up to force confessions and the accused were not allowed to
see a lawyer or their families for months. All three were arrested and
jailed since February 2014 until now, 6 months without a proper charge.
Bui Thi Minh Hang is a well known land rights and human rights activist.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh is her friend and also an activist herself for
many years. Nguyen Van Minh is a Hoa Hao Buddhist practitioner whose
family has been advocating for religious freedom for a long time and
several members of his family had been in jail for this.
The police has had orders to try to stop people from leaving for Dong
Thap since the beginning of last week. Many people were summoned to the
local police stations for questioning and most were outright told not to
go. Those managed to travel to Dong Thap had done so secretly, after
successfully bypassing the surveillance of police and security
personnel. Many were intercepted and stopped as they were boarding the
plane, the boat or the bus.
Last night, a huge number of police officers, possibly in the thousands,
surrounded the city of Cao Lanh, Dong Thap and searched the whole town
high and low for those who had arrived. Those stayed in motels were
quickly reported to the police and have their rooms searched. Their room
door was then locked or chained so that they can not leave in the
morning to go to the trial. The police even locked up those with young
children, causing great concern about their health and safety.
Since early this morning, the police barricaded all entrances to the
block where the Court is situated. Anyone trying to get pass would be
stopped and asked to be searched and have their ids checked. Anyone
taking photos had their phones or cameras confiscated. Many were
arrested, put onto waiting police buses and taken away, unsure where
to.
A group of Hoa Hao Buddhist practitioners arrived in their uniforms were
stopped and told to go away. Several of them are actually witnesses of
the arrest on the 11th February, but they were not allowed to go inside.
When they refused to leave, some were beaten up by the police and
others were taken away.
This is what the Vietnamese government, a member of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, calls an open trial!!
What a joke!! Shame on them!!
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