Democratic Voice of Vietnam

Bringing the voice of Vietnam’s civil society to the world

A project of BPSOS

Category: Freedoms

  • Vietnam court rejects police beating death appeal

     2012-07-17 17:58 HANOI, July 17, 2012 (AFP) – A Vietnamese court Tuesday upheld a four-year jail term for a policeman over the fatal beating of a man in custody, rejecting a plea for a tougher sentence in a case that alarmed rights activists. Trinh Xuan Tung, 53, died last year after being detained for a…

  • Police block Catholic program that offers English instructions to the poor in Nghe An

    Information compiled from from VRN On July 12, some one thousand children and adults gathering at the Catholic church in Cau Ram, Nghe An to start their free Summer English classes were told that the government had evicted all English instructors.    All five instructors are volunteers from America. Upon arrival to Vietnam, they were pulled into the police station…

  • Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop of Vinh on an Attack Against Catholics at Mass

    ROME, JULY 12, 2012 (Zenit.org).- After the incidents in the Catholic community of Con Cuong, Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop of the diocese of Vinh and president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam, gave an interview in Paris to the Eglises d’Asie agency to comment on the incidents and…

  • Tens of thousands of Catholics protested police brutality against priests and believers in Nghe An

    News brief by VRN July 15, 2012 Responding to the call of the Bishopry of Vinh, today tens of thousands of Catholics throughout the province of Nghe An, Viet Nam, participated in prayer vigils in solidarity with fellow Catholics in Con Cuong District, who have been subjected to repeated police brutality in recent months. From early…

  • Vietnam’s Law Enforcement Agencies and Judicial System Violated Laws in the Case of the Free Journalists Club

    Hanoi, July 14, 2012 Nguyen Van Dai, Esq. International human rights organizations and the governments of several countries are concerned about Vietnam’s harassment and arrest of 3 bloggers associated with the Free Journalists Club, Nguyen Van Hai, Phan Thanh Hai and Ta Phong Tan. Blogger Phan Thanh Hai was arrested the night of October 18…

  • Labor Rights Organization Wages Campaign to End Forced Labor in Vietnam

    In detention centers all over Vietnam, some 40,000 men, women, and children are being held against their will and forced to labor for the Vietnamese government. The victims are held without a hearing or a trial in a court of law in drug detention centers on suspicion of using illegal drugs. Most detainees are picked…

  • Clinton raps Vietnam on rights, sees limits to ties

    By Arshad Mohammed HANOI | Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:23am EDT HANOI | Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:23am EDT (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Vietnam’s human rights record on Tuesday, especially its restriction of free speech online, and her aides said there were limits to better ties until it improved. During a…

  • Human Rights Watch – Vietnam: Clinton Should Spotlight Internet Freedom

    For Immediate Release Vietnam: Clinton Should Spotlight Internet Freedom Press Vietnam to Tear Down Web Firewall; Release Imprisoned Bloggers (New York, July 10, 2012) – United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should publicly press Vietnam to respect freedom of expression and Internet freedom, and release prominent Internet bloggers when she visits Hanoi on July…

  • Prominent dissident to Secretary Clinton on eve of Vietnam visit: Do not downplay democracy

    In an open letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que calls on the US government to promote the democratization of Vietnam. A former prisoner of conscience who remains under house arrest, Dr. Que is well recognized both inside and outside the country. Since 2007, Vietnam’s communist government has waged a brutal crackdown against dissidents, sending over a hundred of…

  • Catholic Diocese protests escalation of government brutality and interference

            Vinh Diocese’s Announcement Regarding the Con Cuong Incident   Diocesan Office in Xa Doai Nghi Dien – Nghi Loc – Nghe An Tel. (0383) 861 171 tgmvinh@gmail.com                                                                                                 Xa Doai, July 4, 2012   STATEMENT Concerning the Con Cuong Incident Members of the Clergy, Seminarians and Fellow Catholics,          In recent days, Catholics in…