Vietnam Dissident Released, Arrives in US – เวียดนามปล่อยตัวนักโทษการเมือง

 

Vietnam Dissident Released, Arrives in US

WASHINGTON April 8, 2014 (AP)

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/vietnam-dissident-released-arrives-us-23229757

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON Associated Press

This file picture taken on April 4, 2011 shows French-trained prominent dissident and legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu (Center) in court in Hanoi during his trial. One of Vietnam’s most prominent dissidents, who was jailed after trying to sue the prime minister, has been freed and has left for the United States, a US official said Tuesday. — PHOTO: AFP

ภาพถ่ายเมื่อวันที่ 4 เม.ย. 2554 เผยให้เห็น นายกู่ฮวีห่าหวู (กลาง) ยืนอยู่ในศาลกรุงฮานอย ระหว่างการพิจารณาคดี นายหวูเป็นหนึ่งในผู้เห็นต่างกับรัฐที่มีชื่อเสียงที่สุดของเวียดนาม ถูกตัดสินจำคุกหลังพยายามฟ้องร้องนายกรัฐมนตรี ล่าสุดนายหวูได้รับการปล่อยตัวเป็นอิสระและตัดสินใจเดินทางไปสหรัฐฯ.– Agence France-Presse/Files/ Vietnam News Agency.

A prominent Vietnamese dissident whose father was an associate of the nation’s founding president Ho Chi Minh arrived in the U.S. Monday after being released from prison by Vietnam, the State Department said.

Cu Huy Ha Vu arrived on a flight to Washington with his wife. He is a legal scholar and among the ruling Communist Party’s highest-profile critics.

In a one-day trial, Vu was sentenced in April 2011 to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest on charges that included conducting propaganda against the state, calling for multiparty government and demanding the abolishment of the party’s leadership.

“The United States welcomes the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release prisoner of conscience Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu,” Aaron Jensen, a spokesman for the State Department’s bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, told The Associated Press.

Jensen said Vu and his wife, Nguyen Thi Duong Ha, had decided to travel to the U.S. after Vu’s release. He provided no further details on the circumstance of the release, and a spokesman at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Vu is among the many government critics who have been imprisoned as the one-party authoritarian state cracks down on dissent amid widespread concerns over its handling of a stuttering economy. He’s among the highest-profile as his father Cu Huy Can was a revolutionary poet and a minister in Ho’s government.

Vu was arrested in 2010 after attempting to sue Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung twice — first for approving a Chinese-built bauxite mining project in Vietnam’s central highlands, and later for prohibiting the filing of class-action lawsuits. The first suit was rejected by a Hanoi court, and the second was ignored.

Vu reportedly went on hunger strike between late May and mid-June over alleged poor treatment in prison.

The U.S. has sought closer ties with its former enemy, Vietnam, in recent years, but relations have been hobbled by concerns over Hanoi’s rights record. President Barack Obama, however, met current Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang at the White House last July.

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 Vietnam releases high-profile dissident who tried to sue PM

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/vietnam-releases-high-profile-dissident-who-tried-sue-pm-20140408

Published on Apr 8, 2014

HANOI (AFP) – One of Vietnam’s most prominent dissidents, who was jailed after trying to sue the prime minister, has been freed and has left for the United States, a US official said Tuesday.

French-trained lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu, the son of a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, was sentenced in April 2011 to seven years in prison for “anti-state activity”.

The release of the 55-year-old, who last year staged a hunger strike to draw attention to his treatment in jail, followed intense campaigning by rights groups and foreign governments.

“We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release prisoner of conscience Dr Cu Huy Ha Vu,” US Embassy spokesman Spencer Cryder told AFP.

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เวียดนามปล่อยตัวนักโทษการเมืองชื่อดัง ยังไร้สาเหตุแน่ชัด

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.manager.co.th/IndoChina/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9570000040124

เอเอฟพี – เจ้าหน้าที่สหรัฐฯ เผยวานนี้ (8) ว่า หนึ่งในผู้เห็นต่างกับรัฐที่มีชื่อเสียงที่สุดของเวียดนาม ที่ถูกโทษจำคุกหลังพยายามฟ้องร้องนายกรัฐมนตรี ได้รับการปล่อยตัวเป็นอิสระและเดินทางไปสหรัฐฯ เป็นที่เรียบร้อย

นายกู่ฮวีห่าหวู (Cu Huy Ha Vu) บุตรชายของนายกู่ฮวีเกิ่น แกนนำปฏิวัติ ถูกตัดสินโทษจำคุกเมื่อเดือน เม.ย. 2554 เป็นเวลา 7 ปี ในความผิด “ดำเนินกิจกรรมต่อต้านรัฐ”

การปล่อยตัวนายหวู ที่เมื่อปีก่อนได้อดข้าวประท้วงเพื่อเรียกร้องความสนใจต่อการปฏิบัตที่ได้ เขารับในเรือนจำ มีขึ้นหลังกลุ่มสิทธิมนุษยชน และรัฐบาลต่างชาติวิพากษ์วิจารณ์อย่างหนัก

“เรายินดีต่อการตัดสินใจของทางการเวียดนามที่ปล่อยตัวนักโทษการเมือง ดร.กู่ฮวีห่าหวู” โฆษกสถานทูตสหรัฐฯ กล่าว

“ดร.หวู และภรรยา ตัดสินใจเดินทางไปยังสหรัฐฯ หลังได้รับการปล่อยตัว และเดินทางถึงกรุงวอชิงตัน ดี.ซี. เมื่อวันจันทร์ (7)” เจ้าหน้าที่คนเดิมกล่าว แต่ปฏิเสธที่จะระบุว่านายหวู จะพำนักอยู่ในสหรัฐฯ อย่างถาวรหรือไม่

ฝ่ายรัฐบาลเวียดนาม ไม่ได้ระบุถึงเหตุผลในการปล่อยตัวนายหวู แต่ยืนยันว่า ภรรยาของนายหวูมีอาการเจ็บป่วยจากโรคหัวใจ ด้านทนายความของนายหวูกล่าวว่า เหตุผลการปล่อยตัวยังไม่ชัดเจน

นายกู่ฮวีห่าหวู ถูกจับกุมตัวในปี 2553 หลังพยายามฟ้องร้องนายกรัฐมนตรีเหวียน เติ๋น ยวุ๋ง แต่ไม่ประสบความสำเร็จ เกี่ยวกับแผนการก่อสร้างเหมืองแร่ที่ก่อให้เกิดการคัดค้านเป็นวงกว้าง

หัวหน้าผู้พิพากษาในการพิจารณาคดีระบุว่า งานเขียน และบทสัมภาษณ์ของนายหวู เป็นการป้ายสีพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์เวียดนาม

อดีตศัตรูสงครามเวียดนาม และสหรัฐฯ ได้ทำงานร่วมกันที่จะพัฒนาความสัมพันธ์ในช่วงหลายสิบปีที่ผ่านมา แต่ประเด็นปัญหาเกี่ยวกับสิทธิมนุษยชนยังคงเป็นอุปสรรคต่อการพัฒนาความ สัมพันธ์ของ 2 ประเทศ

เวียดนาม มักถูกประณามโดยกลุ่มสิทธิมนุษยชน และรัฐบาลชาติตะวันตก ต่อการไม่ยอมรับความคิดเห็นทางการเมืองที่แตกต่าง และการละเมิดเสรีภาพในการนับถือศาสนา

รองผู้อำนวยการฮิวแมนไรท์วอช ประจำภูมิภาคเอเชีย ระบุว่า การปล่อยตัวนายหวู เป็นการพัฒนาที่น่ายินดี โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งปัญหาสุขภาพของนายหวู ขณะที่ถูกจำคุกอย่างไม่เป็นธรรมโดยเจ้าหน้าที่เวียดนาม

“นายหวู ไม่ควรถูกจำคุกตั้งแต่แรก เพราะสิ่งที่ นายหวู กระทำไปทั้งหมดนั้นเป็นการใช้สิทธิของตัวเองในการแสดงความคิดเห็นอย่างเสรี” ฟิล โรเบิร์ตสัน กล่าว

เวียดนาม ไม่อนุญาตเอกชนผลิตสื่อ หนังสือพิมพ์ทุกฉบับ และสถานทีโทรทัศน์ทุกช่องล้วนเป็นกิจการของรัฐ ทนายความ บล็อกเกอร์ และนักเคลื่อนไหวมักตกเป็นเป้าในการจับกุม และควบคุมตัวอย่างไม่มีสาเหตุ

องค์กรนักข่าวไร้พรมแดนระบุเมื่อต้นเดือนว่า เวียดนามมีบล็อกเกอร์ถูกควบคุมตัวอย่างน้อย 34 คน เป็นรองเพียงแค่จีนเท่านั้น.

Vietnam Dissident’s 7-Year Sentence Upheld

View Original Source:  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2086638,00.html

(HANOI, Vietnam) — An appeals court upheld the seven-year prison sentence for the dissident son of one of Vietnam’s founding revolutionaries Tuesday, despite arguments that his support for a multiparty system did not mean he was against the Communist Party.

The ruling against Cu Huy Ha Vu drew immediate criticism from activists and the U.S. government, which said it had serious concerns about human rights in Vietnam despite its improving relations with Hanoi.

Vu, a human rights lawyer educated in France, said he was innocent of charges including spreading propaganda against the state and called the case against him a conspiracy.

“I did not oppose the Communist Party of Vietnam,” Vu told the court. “I only demanded a multiparty system that would allow healthy competition for the ultimate interests of the people and of the nation.” (See pictures of the Hmong in Laos, the forgotten ally of the U.S. during the Vietnam War.)

Prosecutors said, however, that Vu’s actions violated national security and abused freedom of speech.

At one point during the hearing, as the prosecutor cited evidence suggesting Vu had branded the government a dictatorship, Vu interrupted and said “Yes, it’s a dictatorship.” He was seen turning to his wife and uncle in the gallery and holding up his fingers in a victory sign three times.

Vu’s case has been seen as a test for the government, given the notoriety of his family’s allegiance to Vietnam. He is the son of Cu Huy Can, a well-known Vietnamese poet and revolutionary leader in the government formed by late President Ho Chi Minh when he declared independence from France in 1945.

The government does not tolerate challenges to its one-party rule, but Hanoi maintains that only lawbreakers are punished.

Vu’s arrest and trial in April have been the subject of much Internet chatter, with many questioning whether the initial sentence, including an additional three years of house arrest, was too harsh.

Vu, who holds a law doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris but no license to practice in Vietnam, has twice tried to sue the prime minister — once over a controversial Chinese-built bauxite mining project, and again after the premier blocked class-action lawsuits from being filed. Both cases were thrown out of court.

Vu was convicted of calling for an end to the one-party rule, defaming the state, demanding the abolishment of the Communist Party’s leadership and calling the war against the United States a civil war.

The appeals court on Tuesday confirmed the verdict and sentence, saying there was no basis for dismissing the case.

Presiding Judge Nguyen Van Son said the 53-year-old Vu had demonstrated “contempt for the law and could not be re-educated.”

After the one-day hearing, Vu said the decision was a form of “revenge” against him and vowed to continue to fight for Vietnam.

“My family of four generations has been fighting for and dying for the country,” Vu said, adding that his father was “one of the people who gave birth to this regime that is putting me on trial today.”

Foreign media and diplomats were barred from the courtroom, but were allowed to watch the proceedings via closed-circuit television from an adjacent room. No cameras or tape recorders were permitted.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said an officer from the U.S. Embassy was allowed to attend.

“We continue to urge the government of Vietnam to immediately release Mr. Vu, as well as all other prisoners of conscience, and believe that no individual should be in prison for exercising their right to free speech,” Toner told a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

He described the U.S. relationship with its former enemy as generally very good, but said Washington would continue to press the Vietnamese government on human rights issues.

Human Rights Watch criticized the initial trial, during which one of Vu’s defense attorneys was ejected from the court and the other three walked out in protest after repeatedly being denied a request for access to 10 interviews Vu gave to foreign media that were being used as key evidence against him.

“Dr. Vu was jailed for political reasons in a trial that violated his rights,” the group’s deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement Tuesday.

About a dozen of Vu’s supporters gathered outside the Hanoi courthouse Tuesday before police sealed off the area. One woman waved a placard that read: “My brother is innocent.”

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Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Prominent Vietnamese activist jailed over democracy calls

View Original Source:  http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/25297/

6 April 2011, 11:37AM

Viet Nam must release a high-profile activist sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for calling for an end to one-party rule, Amnesty International said.

Human rights defender and environmental activist Cu Huy Ha Vu was convicted of “conducting propaganda against the state” by a court in Ha Noi on 4 April after calling for a multiparty system in online articles and for giving interviews to foreign media.

Vu was also sentenced to three years of house arrest upon the completion of his seven year prison term.

“This was a sham trial, with the presumption of innocence and right to a defence completely ignored,” said Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director. “Cu Huy Va Vu is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released.”

The son of a famous revolutionary colleague of the late President Ho Chi Minh, Vu had previously twice sued the Prime Minister of the country, once in an attempt to stop a controversial bauxite mining project from harming the environment, and the other challenging the legality of a decree banning class-action petitions.

His was the second major trial of a dissident this year, following the January conviction of Vi Duc Hoi, a pro-democracy activist and former Communist Party official prosecuted for posting articles online calling for democracy.

Two former prisoners of conscience who tried to observe his trial, Pham Hong Son and Le Quoc Quan, were reportedly arrested outside the court. Amnesty International is also calling for their immediate release.

“The Vietnamese authorities have outlawed any peaceful dissent through their misuse of the judicial system. The government needs to heed the calls of the international community to stop persecuting and imprisoning non-violent activists,” said Donna Guest.

Dozens of peaceful political critics and activists have been sentenced to long prison terms since Viet Nam began a concerted crackdown on freedom of expression in October 2009.

Amnesty International is calling on the Vietnamese government to allow judicial independence, and to repeal or reform vaguely worded security legislation used to prosecute peaceful critics.

Vietnamese dissident lawyer gets 7 years in prison

miamiherald.com

View Original Source:  http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/03/2149377/trial-starts-for-vietnamese-dissident.html

The Associated Press

Dissident lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu is escorted by police out of a courtroom after being convicted of spreading propaganda against the state and sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest at the one-day trial in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, April 4, 2011. Cu Huy Ha Vu, son of a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader, was sentenced Monday for calling for an end to Vietnam's government and its one-party system. (AP Photo/Vietnam News Agency, Thong Nhat) Thong Nhat / AP

HANOI, Vietnam — A dissident lawyer and son of a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader was sentenced to seven years in prison and another three years house arrest Monday for calling for an end to Vietnam’s government and its one-party system.

Cu Huy Ha Vu was sentenced after a dramatic one-day trial in Hanoi that saw one of his defense attorneys ejected by the judge and his other three lawyers walk out in protest. Vu was left alone to defend himself and had several heated exchanges with the judge.

The court convicted him of conducting propaganda against the state for calling for a multiparty government system, demanding the abolishment of the Communist Party’s leadership, defaming the state and distorting Vietnam’s struggle for independence by calling the country’s war against the United States a civil war.

Vietnam does not tolerate any challenge to its one-party rule.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was “deeply concerned” about the conviction and sentencing of Vu, which “raises questions about Vietnam’s commitment to rule of law and reform.”

The 53-year-old Vu is the son of Cu Huy Can, a famous Vietnamese poet and revolutionary leader in the government formed by late President Ho Chi Minh when he declared independence from France in 1945.

“I did not commit the crime of spreading propaganda against the state,” Vu told the court. “This criminal case was invented against me. This case is completely illegal.”

Judge Nguyen Huu Chinh disagreed.

“Born and raised into a revolutionary family, he did not sustain that tradition but instead committed erroneous acts,” he said.

His wife, lawyer Nguyen Thi Duong Ha, said she believed her husband was innocent.

“When you did not commit a crime, one cannot say your sentence was harsh or not,” she said. “I think the sentencing was illegal.”

Vu was arrested in November after he attempted to file a lawsuit against Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2009 after a controversial Chinese-built bauxite mining project was approved in the Central Highlands. He argued the project violated environmental protection, national security and cultural heritage laws.

Court officials dropped the suit, saying they didn’t have the authority to put the country’s leader on trial.

Vu attempted to sue the prime minister again a year later for prohibiting class-action lawsuits from being filed, saying it violated a constitutional guarantee of the right to “gather, form groups and protest in conformity with the law.”

Security was tight around the courthouse Monday, with police stopping traffic and pushing onlookers away. Limited access was given to international media organizations, but no cameras or recorders were allowed inside. Reporters from foreign media outlets were kept in an area outside the main courtroom and watched the proceedings on closed-circuit television.

Vu’s lawyers walked out of the courthouse after the judge refused to read or distribute 10 news interviews Vu was accused of conducting with foreign media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. The interviews were used as key evidence against him.

State Department spokesman Toner said the U.S. was troubled by the “apparent lack of due process” in Vu’s trial and the continued detention of several individuals who were peacefully seeking to observe the proceedings.

New-York based Human Rights Watch called last week for Vu’s release, calling him “one of the most prominent defenders of cultural, environmental and human rights in Vietnam.”

“Vietnam should amend or repeal its broad national security laws instead of using them to silence peaceful government critics,” Phil Robertson, the group’s deputy Asia director, said in a statement. “How can Vietnam become a country governed by the rule of law if the government continues to punish legal advocates?”