Vietnam: Independent Blogger Vo Van Tao Says He Was Abducted by Police in Hanoi
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2019
- Event Description
Nha Trang City-based independent journalist Vo Van Tao has accused police officers from the Ministry of Public Security of kidnapping him in Hanoi in the evening of May 4, one day before the release of prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (aka Anh Ba Sam). In the late afternoon of last Saturday, Mr. Tao and his friend visited the family of Mr. Vinh. When they returned to his friend's house, Mr. Tao was abducted by a group of four guys in plain clothes. Two of them took Mr. Tao to a representative office of the Security Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security located in Nguyen Gia Thieu street in the capital city. Two other guys blocked Tao's friend to prevent him from following his detained friend. In police custody, Tao was questioned about his visit to Mr. Vinh's family and his plan for Sunday when Vinh is released and comes back to the capital city. Police officers also robbed his cell phones and took him to his friend's private residence at 10.00 PM. They requested him to come back to collect his phone afternoon of the next day. However, police officers delayed returning and Tao collected his cell phone on the evening of Sunday. The abduction was made in a bid to discourage him from meeting with blogger Vinh whose blog Anh Ba Sam was very popular among dissidents and social activists. Mr. Tao is a well-known dissident in Vietnam's central region. He has participated in peaceful demonstrations to protest Vietnam's human rights abuse and China's violations of the country's sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He told Defend the Defenders that plainclothes agents were following him right after he landed in Noi Bai International Airport.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 21.027763
Longitude: 105.83416
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 4 May 2019, Nha Trang City-based independent journalist Vo Van Tao has accused police officers from the Ministry of Public Security of kidnapping him in Hanoi in the evening