Vietnam: blogger, husband of detained WHRD is threatened
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- May 11, 2022
- Event Description
On 11 and 12 May 2022, Hoa Binh province police repeatedly called Mr Trinh Ba Khiem - Mrs Theu's husband - to come to their office 'to work'. This was the third time 64-year-old Mr Khiem was summoned to the police office regarding the statuses, video clips... he posted on his Facebook since the arrest of his wife Mrs Can Thi Theu and his two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu. Mr Khiem told RFA Viet: 'In the second working session I had with Hoa Binh province police, they questioned me, why did I say on social media that the communist regime killed people; I told them, that was correct, [the communist regime] killed [land petitioner] Mr Le Dinh Kinh [in an ambush on Dong Tam village in Jan 2020]...
'The police also told me, I am not allowed to publish on social media unverified articles, they asked me to stop live streaming on social media.'
Mr Khiem said he refused to comply with the police's demand, and asserted that he would continue to speak out on social media and to fight for justice for his family members.
'They demanded me to stop [all those activities], otherwise I will be jailed with a heavy sentence.'
On 11 May, before going to the police office, Mr Khiem told RFA Viet: 'I am never afraid of the communist louts. In my struggle [for my rights] , it is the communist regime that commits criminal offences, the communists must defend themselves before me, I never have to defend myself before them.'
Coming home after his working session with the police, he said:
'[The police] persuaded me not to live stream bad mouthing the regime, otherwise they will put me in jail. The communist regime's police really want to arrest me, that is my assessment.'
In the working session on 12 May, Mr Khiem informed that the police changed tack. Instead of banning him from speaking out on social media. they persuaded him not to use the word 'communist' in his speech.
'That was their demand, they didn't like that word; in the view of this communist regime, the Communist Party is always correct, only individuals make mistakes, if you call them all 'communists', they don't like it at all, they said, you bad mouth the regime and the state by saying that.'
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Online
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
News summarised from Vietnamese article: VoA Vietnam
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 20.812585585012446
Longitude: 105.34241918232343
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 11 and 12 May 2022, Trinh Ba Khiem, blogger and husband of detained WHRD Can Thi Theu, was intimidated via phone call by the police for sharing online about police violence against his family members and land petitioners in Hoa Binh Province, Viet Nam.