Organization: Vietnam Insight
Editor: Chan Tran
Address: PO Box 7826, San Jose, CA 95150, USA
Phone: (408) 226-2261
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Date:         Wed, 6 Jan 1993 17:33:43 PST
              USENET." <VIETNET@USCVM.BITNET>
From:         Vietnam Insight <vinsight@NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      VI: Forthcoming trial of dissidents

*********************
More Dissident trials in Vietnam
*********************

According to the Le Point of Paris, France, issue 1047 of October 10,
Hanoi was going to bring to public trial eight dissidents without
disclosing all their names. Among the eight would be Prof. Doan Viet Hoat,
former president of a University in Saigon, who had been imprisoned for
12 years until released in 1987 and was rearrested shortly after.

The daily also said French Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy had requested
Foreign Minister Roland Dumas to take up the matter with the Hanoi
government in seeking Mr. Hoat's release.

********************
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

June 1992

VIET NAM

DOAN VIET HOAT: FORTHCOMING TRIAL OF PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE


Others will soon be brought to trial in Ho Chi Minh City and charged
with "activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government". This
charge carries a maximum penalty of the death sentence. Doan Viet Hoat
is a prisoner of conscience who was rearrested in 1990 and has been held
without trial since. He was first detained without trial for 12 years
from 1976 to 1988 for peacefully expressing his political opinions. AI
is calling on the Vietnamese authorities for his immediate and
unconditional release.

Doan Viet Hoat was arrested on 17 November 1990 at his house in Ho Chi
Minh City. The authorities accused him of undertaking
counter-revolutionary activities against the government. AI believes
that he may have been arrested as part of a wider crackdown against real
and suspected government critics as a preventive measure against
possible political unrest. Several Vietnamese writers and journalists
associated with the former South Vietnamese government were also
reportedly arrested at the same time. Among them were poet To Thuy Yen
and journalist Le Van Tien, both were detained for the peaceful
expression of their political beliefs. Le Van Tien was reportedly
released on 3 March 1992. To Thuy Yen and Le Van Tien had also
previously been detained in "re-education" camps from 1976 to 1988.

Doan Viet Hoat was first arrested in 29 August 1976, one year after all
private educational establishments were taken over by the state. He was
reportedly arrested as a result of a denunciation made by a former
student of Van Hanh University in Saigon. At that time, a number of
South Vietnamese writers, journalist, and artists were arrested for the
purpose of "re-education". AI believes that Doan Viet Hoat was arrested
due to his links with Van Hanh University and with the Asia Foundation.

Doan Viet Hoat was a graduate in English from Saigon University in 1965.
He then taught English at a high school in the Mekong Delta area of
South Vietnam for a year before becoming personnel adviser at Van Hanh
University. In 1967, he gained a scholarship from the Asia Foundation
and attended Florida State University, Florida, United States of
America. In 1971, he returned to Vietnam and took up a post as
vice-president of administration at Van Hanh University. During this
period he also worked in an unofficial capacity as a consultant with the
Asia Foundation in order to promote educational and cultural exchanges
between Vietnamese and American students. The Asia Foundation is a
private foundation which is mainly funded by the USA government.

Doan Viet Hoat was first adopted as a prisoner of conscience by AI in
1983. On his release in 1988, the release order stated that he had been
arrested for having committed "anti-revolutionary activities against the
socialist regime".

RECENT POLITICAL TRIALS IN VIETNAM

AI has recently received reports of several trials in Viet Nam where
real and suspected government critics were charged with crimes against
national security. Doan Thanh Liem, a lawyer, and Nguyen Tri, a poet,
were sentenced on 14 May 1992 to 12 years' and 8 years' imprisonment
respectively for allegedly spreading "anti-socialist propaganda" and
Nguyen Ngoc Dat, who had been detained in a "re-educational" camp from
1976 to 1987, was sentenced on 28 May 1992 to 20 years' imprisonment for
"subversive activities".

CRIMINAL CODE OF VIET NAM

AI has expressed to the Government of Viet Nam its concern that the
crime of "taking actions to overthrow the people's government" specified
in Article 73 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code does not distinguish
between armed or violent acts which may pose a threat to national
security and the peaceful exercise of the rights of freedom of
expression and association. This is also true of other criminal offenses
specified in Chapter I of the Vietnamese Criminal Code under the heading
"especially dangerous crimes against the national security". This
legislation defines a range of peaceful activities as "crimes against
the national security", and grants judicial authorities the power to
convict and imprison people solely on the basis of real or imputed
nonviolent beliefs or activities.

APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT

AI is calling on the Vietnamese authorities to ensure that international
standards for a fair trial, as specified in Article 14 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), are met
when Doan Viet Hoat and others are brought to trial.

AI also appeals to the government to ensure that Article 73 and other
articles of the Vietnamese Criminal Code under the heading "especially
dangerous crimes against national security" is never invoked to imprison
people solely for the peaceful expression of their political views and
to prevent their use as a measure to detain political prisoners for
unspecified periods of time without charge or trial.

AI is urging the government to uphold the rights to freedom of
expression, association and opinion and to release immediately and
unconditionally all those confined solely for the non-violent exercise
of these rights. These rights are guaranteed by international human
rights agreements particularly Articles 19 and 22 of the ICCPR of which
the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is a state party.


--
Vietnam Insight (vinsight@netcom.com)
Chan Tran, editor