Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Safety continues to ship prisoners of conscience removed from their households to serve their jail sentences, as a further punishment.
Most not too long ago, Hanoi activist Nguyen Thi Tam was transferred to Gia Trung Jail camp in Gia Lai province, practically 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) from her residence. One other activist from Vietnam’s capital, Trinh Ba Phuong, was taken to An Diem Jail camp within the central province of Quang Nam, 800 kilometers (497 miles) away from his residence on Sept. 21, one month after the Larger Folks’s Courtroom in Hanoi rejected his attraction and upheld his 10-year jail sentence in an attraction listening to in mid-August.
Phuong’s spouse Do Thi Thu and his father-in-law and sister-in-law left their hometown in Hoa Binh province on the night of Sept. 25 and didn’t arrive on the jail till the subsequent morning.
“It took us 29 hours to get to the jail and again. The price per individual was at the least VND1 million (U.S.$ 44) for each methods,” she mentioned.
Additionally arrested on expenses of “conducting anti-state propaganda” underneath Article 117 of the Legal Code for human rights actions and talking out a couple of police raid in Dong Tam commune in early 2020, Thu’s mother-in-law and brother-in-law, Can Thi Theu, and her son Trinh Ba Tu have been each sentenced to eight years in jail.
Theu is at the moment serving her sentence at Jail camp No. 5 in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province whereas Tu is serving his at Jail camp No. 6 in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province, neither of which is handy for jail visits.
Thu mentioned to avoid wasting prices her father-in-law, former prisoner of conscience Trinh Ba Khiem, rode a motorcycle from their household farm in Hoa Binh to the 2 prisons. It took him greater than two hours to achieve Jail camp No. 5, and eight hours to get to Jail camp No. 6.
In line with human rights organizations, Vietnam is holding lots of of prisoners of conscience, though Hanoi has at all times insisted that there are none in Vietnam, solely individuals who break the regulation.
It has been a long-running observe to ship the overwhelming majority of prisoners of conscience to serve their sentences removed from their households. These with households within the North are transferred to prisons within the Central area or the South, whereas these within the South are despatched to the Central area or the North.
Truong Minh Duc, Vice President of the Brotherhood for Democracy was sentenced to 12 years in jail for subversion in 2018 and is at the moment being held at Jail camp No. 6 in Nghe An.
His spouse Nguyen Kim Thanh mentioned that from Ho Chi Minh Metropolis to Nghe An, she spends greater than VND5 million (U.S.$ 211) on aircraft tickets, bus tickets and motorcycle taxis each time. On the Lunar New 12 months and different public holidays, the price of touring to the jail could rise to over VND7 million (U.S.$ 295).
Jail No. 6 has a particularly harsh local weather which impacts prisoners’ well being Thanh mentioned:
“When it’s sunny, the climate is simply too harsh. He [her husband] has to moist towels and garments to hold on the window and his neck to chill it down,”she mentioned.
“It might be very chilly in winter as a result of the jail is in a mountainous space. Because the jail cell is just not small, the cell could be very chilly on account of wind.”
Due to unhealthy climate circumstances, Duc has complications and hypertension within the scorching season and colds and allergic reactions within the winter.
Nguyen Tuong Thuy, Vice Chairman of the Impartial Journalists Affiliation of Vietnam, is serving an 11-year jail sentence at An Phuoc Jail camp within the southern province of Binh Duong. He was arrested in Could 2020 on expenses of “conducting propaganda in opposition to the state” in the identical case as President Pham Chi Dung and editor Le Huu Minh Tuan.
His spouse Pham Thi Lan takes at the least two nights and someday to get from Hanoi to the jail and again, and it prices at the least VND4 million (U.S.$ 168) if she will be able to purchase an affordable round-trip flight ticket between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Metropolis. If she will be able to’t purchase low-cost airline tickets and has to get them from Vietnam Airways, the price will be as much as VND7-8 million (U.S.$295-337) for a go to.
An activist commented that the switch of prisoners of conscience to prisons removed from their households makes prisoners unaccustomed to dwelling in new weather conditions, which ends up in them getting sick extra usually, particularly as jail medical care is proscribed. Sending them away to jail additionally makes it tough for his or her households to seek out the money and time to go to.
Not all prisoners of conscience are despatched a great distance from their household properties. Journalist Le Van Dung (Le Dung Vova) was transferred to Nam Ha Jail camp after shedding his attraction in opposition to a five-year jail sentence. His spouse Bui Thi Hue mentioned it takes her 4 hours and about VND1 million (U.S.$ 42) for every go to.
