VIETNAM UPDATE

Vietnamese Cadres Seek Repeal of Law Used To Detain Dissidents ?

Source: RFA Webcomb

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2001 - In an unusual joint petition, 11 senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) have asked the National Assembly to repeal a law that permits administrative detention of dissidents for up to two years without trial.

In a letter to the National Assembly dated June 1, 2001, and forwarded to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the group describes itself as comprising "retired Central Committee members, former leading cadres of provinces, army veterans and cadres, including scientists, journalists, and writers." 

The letter, addressed to the Tenth Session of the Ninth National Assembly of Vietnam then meeting in Hanoi, notes that in February, 17 people - including the 11 supporters of the new petition - had written a similar letter seeking the repeal of Decree 31/CP, which permits administrative detention of dissidents. Public security personnel, they wrote, have recently stepped up such detentions, notably by apprehending religious leaders in the southern part of the country. Such detentions may last for up to two years, and they can be renewed. Decree 31/CP, which became law on July 14, 1997, under then Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, is extralegal because "it is an anti-democratic and counter-progressive decree that opened the door to abuse of power by local authorities in matters affecting the life of common people," the group wrote. It also violates Article 72 of the Vietnamese Constitution, the letter argues, which says "no one is considered guilty and liable to punishment (without an) effective court-decreed sentence." The decree, they went on, also contradicts Article 2 of the Penal Code, which says, "The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the fundamental and highest law of the land. All other legal dispositions must be in line with the Constitution."

The case of Dalat-based dissident Ha Si Phu exemplifies the arbitrary character of Decree 31/CP. Ha Si Phu was informed in writing on January 5, 2001, that he had been cleared of all suspicions after eight months under investigation. Just over a month later, however, on February 9, 2001, local authorities in Lam Dong Province put him under "administrative detention" for another 24 months under Decree 31/CP.

Public security officials more recently applied Decree 31/CP to the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, number two in the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, to Le Quang Liem, a leader of the 4 million member Hoa Hao Buddhist Church, and to Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly in Hue. Father Ly was subsequently arrested on May 17, and he has been held incommunicado since.

The letter said in part: "If a citizen is guilty of some crime, we propose that he/she be brought to trial in court. Let [the National Assembly] do away with Decree 31/CP, which is a stain on our people’s record in the eyes of the world and which causes shame to the spirit of those who have died in the liberation of our country for the sake of freedom and happiness for the entire people."

Signing the letter were:

Hoang Minh Chinh, former director of the Marxist-Leninist Institute;

Hoang Tien, writer and playwright; Nguyen Van Dao, former Central Committee member and Deputy Head of the State Science Commission;

Pham Que Duong, former colonel and military historian;

Tran Ba, army veteran and political commentator;

Nguyen Thanh Giang, world-renowned geophysicist;

Tran Dung Tien, veteran of two wars;

Le Gian, aged 90, 71-year veteran of the Communist Party of Vietnam, former director-general of public security, father of the Vietnamese intelligence services, and former deputy chief justice;

Dau Quy Ha, senior captain in the Vietnam People’s Army; Chu Thanh, a poet who writes under the pen name of Tu Sot;

and Tran Dai Son, a founding member of the legendary Self-Defense Militia Defending Hanoi and former head of the Special Operations Recon Unit of Division 308B.

RFA

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