Vietnam: Fifth member of Online Democracy Group arrested
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Aug 4, 2017
- Event Description
Authorities in central Vietnam's Quang Binh province arrested a member of an online democracy advocacy group on Friday, bringing to five the number of group members taken into custody during the last week. Nguyen Trung Tuc, a former political prisoner and member of the online Brotherhood for Democracy group, was taken from his home in handcuffs on charges of working to overthrow the government, Truc's son told RFA's Vietnamese Service following Truc's arrest. "At around 9:00 a.m., nearly 100 uniformed and plainclothes officers came to our house," Truc's son said. "They pulled my father outside to take video and photos, and then they forced him to sign some documents. Then they searched our house and took our phones and papers," he said. "They spent three hours doing all of this, then they took him away at about 1:00 p.m. after reading a document accusing my father of having violated Article 79"[of Vietnam's Penal Code, related to "activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration."] Speaking separately, another member of Quang Binh province's Brotherhood for Democracy group confirmed that Truc had been arrested. "This morning, about 100 people went to Nguyen Trung Tuc's house to arrest him under Article 79 and conducted a house search until about 12:30. Then they escorted him away," the source said, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 17.610271499999993
Longitude: 106.3487474
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 4 August 2017, authorities in central Vietnam's Quang Binh province arrested a member of an online democracy advocacy group, bringing to five the number of group members taken into custody during the last week.