The son of a Vietnamese revolutionary leader goes on trial today after he tried to sue the country’s prime minister, in one of the most politically charged cases in the communist nation’s recent history.
Cu Huy Ha Vu, 53, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted on the charge of “propaganda against the state,” an allegation commonly used against dissidents. His trial in Hanoi is expected to last just one day.
Vu is the son of Cu Huy Can, who was a member of founding Vietnamese prime minister Ho Chi Minh’s provisional Cabinet from 1945, as well as a celebrated poet whose works are still studied in the country’s schools.
“I think the major significance is the … political and historical resonance that Cu Huy Ha Vu has,” said a foreign diplomat, requesting anonymity.
In 2009, Vu submitted what he said was the first legal action against a Vietnamese prime minister.
The case against Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sought the cancellation of a controversial bauxite mining plan, which had sparked unusual opposition from a cross-section of society. Opponents were concerned that the environmental and social damage of the mining would far outweigh any economic benefit.
Vu’s challenge was thrown out by the Hanoi People’s Court, which ruled it was without “legal basis.” A second attempt to lodge the case at the Supreme Court was ignored, according to Human Rights Watch.
“His prominence seems to have protected him from government sanction for his activism until recently,” the New York-based watchdog added in a statement over the weekend demanding Vu’s release.
Vu was arrested in November during a crackdown against activists and bloggers as political tensions rose before the Communist Party’s leadership congress in January.
“The decision to arrest Vu must have been discussed carefully by high-level ranking party leaders,” said Nguyen Thanh Giang, a dissident jailed for two months in 1999.
He said the trial was another attempt “to shut down protests in society,” and to intimidate others who might like to hold party leaders accountable in the courts.
An indictment accuses Vu of spreading propaganda against the state through writings, interviews with foreign media and Internet material.
Between 2009 and October last year, Vu allegedly “defamed the administration” and advocated a multi-party system, the indictment said.
He said that the national leadership role of the Communist Party serves only “the illegal benefits of a small group,” according to the allegation. It also says he criticized the jailing of “hundreds of thousands” of former South Vietnamese officials after the communist victory reunified the nation in 1975.
“He did push the envelope,” the foreign diplomat said.
Rights activists say allegations of “propaganda against the state” criminalize peaceful dissent.
Amnesty International said last month that more than 20 activists in Vietnam had been jailed over the previous 12 months by the one-party regime.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in