Respectfully submitted to:
· U.S. Embassy in Hanoi
· U.S. Consulate General in Saigon
REPRESSION BY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM
(8/10/2013 through morning of 8/21/2013)
After my meeting with the delegation from the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the afternoon of 8/10/2013, I saw that public security agents were deployed for my arrest upon my leaving the meeting location. Jennifer, political affairs staff of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and Jonathan, political affairs staff of the U.S. Consulate General in Saigon, walked me to my taxicab. Public security agents trailed my taxicab until I reached my mother’s house at No. 29 42nd Street, Hamlet 4, 4th District, Saigon.
Over the next days, at least 10 public security agents surrounded my mother’s house day and night. Some would trail family members who went outside, interfering with everyone’s daily life. I felt that I should leave my mother’s house in order to end the disruption to my relatives’ lives.
In the evening of 8/16/2013, Ms. Bui Thi Minh Hang, Mr. Truong Minh Duc and Mr. Hoang Dung came to accompany me to the Redemptorist Church on Ky Dong Street where a reception was being held on the occasion of Ms. Nguyen Phuong Uyen’s release from prison (the government had converted her 6-year prison sentence to a 3-year, suspended one). Public security agents trailed us. That evening, Ms. Bui Thi Minh Hang, Mr. Truong Minh Duc, Mrs. Tran Thi Nga and I went to Hotel An Binh, 175/8 Pham Ngu Lao Street (1st District) to spend the night there. Public security agents kept up their watch in front of the hotel all night long.
In the morning of 8/18/2013, when Truong Minh Duc and I left the hotel to buy breakfast, 4 public security agents harassed us. When Nga and Hang took pictures of the agents’ assault, agents started to harass the two women. Nga was carrying her 8-month old child. We went back to our hotel rooms because the situation was so tense. A number of friends finally came and accompanied us to the Ky Dong Street Church.
In the afternoon of 8/18, Hang, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, Nga, and I took a taxicab to the Hoa Mai Bus Station on Nguyen Thai Binh Street to return to the Town of Vung Tau. Public security agents drove their car right up to the rear of our cab in a threatening move. When we got off the cab at the bus station, two agents ran towards Hang and hit her on the head with a stone. Then they fled. Hang’s head was bruised.
Five or six agents trailed our bus until Vung Tau. Currently at least 10 agents kept watch on Hang’s house at 106 Le Hong Phong, Vung Tau, 24 hours a day. Hang’s cousin, Ms. Le Thi My Diep, lives at No. 5 Pham Ngu Lao, Vung Tau. Agents trail her and the other members of her household. They have been harassing her, e.g., snatched her cell phone, threatened her when she went on errands (such as taking her child to see a doctor), etc. Ms. Diep takes care of Hang’s house when Hang is away and runs errands for Hang. Public security agents want to isolate Hang through scaring Diep into distancing herself from Hang.
In the afternoon of 8/19/2013, Mr. Le Quoc Quyet, a brother of Attorney Le Quoc Quan and resident of Saigon, came to see Hang. In the morning of 8/20, Quyet, two friends and Ms. Tran Thi Nga left Hang’s house, with public security agents trailing them. As their car reached the border between Vung Tau and Ba Ria, traffic police stopped the car. When Quyet and his friend got out to ask the policeman the reason for his pulling them over, public security agents hit Quyet on the head with a brick (this attack was recorded) and smashed the rearview mirror of his car. The police detained the 3 assailants briefly before letting them go. Quyet’s group went to the public security station in Ba Ria to file a complaint. The assailants were not there and the station personnel documented the assault.
On the same day, when Hang went outside, agents tried to peek into Hang’s house through the roof, causing a ceiling panel to fall to the ground. I was in her house during the incident and heard their footsteps on the roof. Perhaps they were trying to find out if I was still in the house because I had been staying inside for a number of days without venturing out.
On 3/21/2013, Tran Bui Trung, Hang’s son, was riding his moped in Vung Tau when he saw in his rearview mirror two strangers with handkerchiefs covering their faces and riding a motorbike. The attackers tried to slam a rock on Trung’s head. Fortunately he saw them and dodged in time. The assailants’ motorbike had a tag that started with 59T, a Saigon vehicle. Those could be from the Saigon public security force.
Based on the events that I mentioned, public security agents from Saigon and Vung Tau appear to focus on me as their principal target even as they have been attempting to intimidate and harass my associates and friends. Their tactic is to isolate individual activists so that when they moved to arrest us, no one would dare to come to our defense.
Public security agents do not have an excuse to arrest me. They can only harass me and my friends and relatives. If I went outside alone, agents may try to assault or kidnap me. I am holed up in Hang’s house in Vung Tau for my own safety.
Sincerely,
Vung Tau, 8/21/2013.
Nguyễn Bắc Truyển
