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Vietnamese police have been harassing a former prisoner of conscience launched from jail in December 2022 after serving most of a five-year sentence on prices of distributing supplies in opposition to the state and taking part in protests in opposition to the federal government.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, 55, instructed Radio Free Asia on Friday, that the harassment started after she attended the appeals trial of activists Nguyen Thai Hung and his partner, Vu Thi Kim Hoang, on the Individuals’s Court docket within the southern province of Dong Nai on March 29. Authorities requested her to depart the courtroom.
On Friday, Dinh Quan district police summoned her and warned her to not attend different trials. Additionally they stated policemen would test on her typically.
“Lately, the police have watched me very carefully,” Suong instructed Radio Free Asia after she met with police. “They got here to see me proper after I returned house [from the trial]. They stated I used to be not allowed to do that.”
On the finish of the assembly, a police officer instructed her: “I’ll go to you each couple of days.”
Suong stated she didn’t keep in mind the officer’s identify as a result of he was not carrying a reputation badge.
When RFA contacted Dinh Quan district police to confirm the data, a staffer requested for the identify of the officer for verification.
Suong, who stated her well being has been deteriorating since her launch, was convicted in Could 2019 below Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code. The article, which criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or disseminating data, paperwork and gadgets” in opposition to the state. Violators may be sentenced to from 5 to twenty years in jail.
Suong was freed final Dec. 13 unwell, 10 months earlier than her jail time period ended.
Well being points whereas detained
Whereas in jail, Suong had a number of bodily illnesses, together with liver and kidney swelling, elevated liver enzymes, a bacterial an infection in her abdomen and thyroid points.
The one remedy she obtained was the drugs that jail officers gave to all inmates to deal with varied illnesses.
“Once I took them, my situation bought worse,” Suong stated. “I keep in mind one time I couldn’t converse as a result of my physique was swollen from high to toe, together with my mouth and tongue.”
Suong stated she believes her well being deteriorated as a result of she had been subjected to compelled labor at Dong Nai police’s B5 non permanent detention facility the place she was held in the course of the investigation interval, and later at An Phuoc Jail, the place she was held after an appeals trial. She produced votive paper choices with out protecting gear.
Suong additionally stated she had not been paid for her labor, although Vietnamese legislation stipulates that inmates ought to obtain some compensation for labor they carry out in jail.
Whereas she was on the non permanent detention facility from October 2018 to early December 2019, Suong’s household needed to bribe staffers so they might get provides to her, although she by no means obtained them after the funds had been made, she stated.
When Suong had a medical test after she was launched, her physician stated she was very weak and it might be troublesome for her to enhance her bodily situation as a result of she took an excessive amount of ache reliever in earlier years.
RFA couldn’t attain officers at Dong Nai police or An Phuoc Jail for remark.
Arrested and charged in 2018
Suong was arrested together with activist Vu Thi Dung in October 2018, and so they had been each delivered to court docket in the identical case for utilizing completely different Fb accounts to observe movies and skim articles containing anti-state content material.
They each allegedly referred to as for protests in opposition to draft legal guidelines on the creation of latest particular financial zones and cybersecurity, and had been stated to have incited locals folks to take to the streets.
The indictment additionally stated that Dung had produced anti-state leaflets and requested Suong to distribute them at 4 completely different locations in Dinh Quan city of Dong Nai province.
Dung was sentenced to 6 years in jail and can full her jail time period this month.
Suong obtained the Tran Van Ba Award for 2021-2022 together with 4 different Vietnamese activists — Nguyen Thuy Hanh, Huynh Thuc Vy, Vo An Don and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh.
Named for a Vietnamese dissident and freedom fighter executed in 1985 on prices of treason and intent to overthrow the federal government, the award is given yearly to Vietnamese in Vietnam in recognition of their brave motion for freedom, democracy, justice and independence for his or her nation.
Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.
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