Dear VNHR supporters:
We
are concerned of the news that the Buddhist monk Thich Tri Luc was
resettled today in a Scandinavian country, perhaps in
Sweden
, after his long ordeal struggling for freedom in
Vietnam
. While we are welcome his
arrival, we’d like to express our heartfelt sympathy to him regarding
the new beginning of his life-in-exile - as Dr. Nguyen Dan Que had said
“Once a man has to live in forced exile, he is not free!”
Nevertheless, we wish him soon enjoy his freedom and fulfill his
dream.
Note
that it’s important to help one individual regain his freedom; of course
it is more important to help liberate a population of 80 million people
from fear of oppression. Regardless
of what the Vietnamese authorities want to propagandize, today Vietnam has
not a single independent newspaper except the ones run by the Vietnamese
Communist Party or its agents, nor independent organization except the VCP
and its satellite organizations, and nor independent member of 500-seat
national congress. The
Vietnam
’s current society seems stable or stabilized because the tyranny has
cleverly forced “a yoke on the throat” and a fear of terror on its
people. Needless to say, this
kind of oppressive situation is dangerous because once there is a sparkle,
it would explode.
We’d
like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our supporters,
especially Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, for your endless
support of our struggle for basic human rights in
Vietnam
.
Thank
you,
VNHR
Focus
From:
Liz Weiss
Sent:
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 1:26 PM
Subject:
Vietnam: Buddhist Dissident Exiled Abroad
For Immediate
Release:
Vietnam: Buddhist
Dissident Exiled Abroad
Kidnapped Critic of Government Religious Policies Leaves Vietnam
(New York, June 23,
2004) — Thich Tri Luc, a Vietnamese Buddhist dissident who was kidnapped
from Cambodia and forcibly returned to Vietnam in 2002, was permitted to leave
Vietnam for a Scandinavian country, arriving today, Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch said. Thich Tri Luc, whose secular name is Pham Van Tuong,
was a U.N.-recognized refugee when he was abducted by Cambodian and Vietnamese
agents in Cambodia and taken to Vietnam, where he was imprisoned for nearly
two years.
“When a devout
Buddhist is forced to go to exile to practice his religion safely, it’s
clear that Vietnam simply does not tolerate any independent thought or
institutions,” said Sam Zarifi, deputy director of the Asia Division of
Human Rights Watch. “At least he is safe and free from the threat of being
imprisoned for his beliefs.”
Thich Tri Luc, who
was detained and imprisoned numerous times in Vietnam because of his religious
beliefs, was a member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which is
banned by the Vietnamese government.
“At last this sorry
saga is over for Thich Tri Luc,” said a spokesperson for Amnesty
International. “This man has been repeatedly imprisoned, subjected to
intrusive surveillance, and kidnapped from Cambodia with the active collusion
of the Cambodian authorities. He was held in secret in Vietnam without his
family knowing whether he was dead or alive. All this because he was critical
of government religious policies and dared to speak out.”
Background
Thich Tri Luc, 50,
formerly a Buddhist monk, has been a member of the non-state-sanctioned
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) for thirty years. He fled from
Vietnam to Cambodia in early 2002 to seek asylum after suffering years of
persecution by the Vietnamese authorities. Prior to 1975, the UBCV was a major
religious force in South Vietnam, known internationally for monks that
protested the war through self-immolation and through social activism.
From 1992 to1993 he
was detained without charge or trial for ten months in Vietnam for protesting
against the treatment of Buddhists and calling for the respect of religious
freedom. He was arrested again in November 1994 with other UBCV monks and
lay-people for participating in an unofficial relief mission for flood victims
in the Mekong Delta. In August 1995 he was sentenced to two and a half years
of imprisonment plus five years of probationary detention for charges
including “taking advantage of freedom and democratic rights to infringe
upon the interests of the state, social organizations, and citizens”. In
between the periods spent in prison, Thich Tri Luc was subjected to house
arrest, harassment, short-term detention, and deprivation of basic rights by
the authorities because of his membership in the UBCV and his peaceful
religious activities.
After he fled to
Cambodia, he was granted refugee status by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June 2002. On July 25, 2002, he was
abducted by Cambodian and Vietnamese agents and forcibly returned to Vietnam.
Thich Tri Luc was
held incommunicado for more than a year before his family were finally
informed that he was still alive and due to face trial. His
“disappearance” and abduction, in violation of the most basic tenets of
international law, created an international uproar.
Thich Tri Luc’s
shocking treatment by the Cambodian authorities demonstrated the absence of
protection for refugees and asylum-seekers in Cambodia, a problem that
persists despite being a party to the Refugee Convention. On March 12, 2004,
the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Thich Tri Luc to 20 months
of imprisonment on charges of distorting “the government’s policies on
national unity” and contacting “hostile groups to undermine the
government’s internal security and foreign affairs.” He was released on
March 26, having already spent 20 months in pre-trial detention. In a
handwritten note sent to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International four
days after his release from prison, Thich Tri Luc described his abduction from
Cambodia:
At approximately 7:00
p.m. on July 25, 2002, I was walking down Street 185 opposite Russey Market
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to buy my evening meal. Suddenly, some strangers
accosted me, encircled me, abducted me by force and threw me into a vehicle
waiting nearby. They handcuffed me, and then the man sitting next to me
grabbed my throat and throttled me so hard that I was unable to cry out for
help. The men behind me leaned forward and beat me brutally on my face and
head. They emptied my pockets and confiscated my belongings, money and
refugee card. Some of the men in the car were Vietnamese.
One man questioned
me in Vietnamese, with the fluency of a true Vietnamese speaking in his
mother tongue: “Did you have a visa to come here?” I answered him
without hesitation: “I am a political refugee. I was granted refugee
status by the UNHCR. I have the right to live in Cambodia under U.N.
protection. I have never broken Cambodian laws, so why have you kidnapped me
and beaten me like this?”
The men remained
silent. They kept on beating me relentlessly. I cannot tell you how
panic-stricken I felt!
The car drove on
for about half an hour before stopping outside a building…. They put me
into another car, and we set off again. The vehicle with the men who
kidnapped me drove in front.… We drove to another building near the
roundabout at the foot of the Saigon Bridge in Phnom Penh. The men locked me
in a meeting hall which had a large insignia of the Cambodian Security
Police painted on the wall. I was kept in handcuffs all night. No one came
to question me, so I had no opportunity to explain my situation nor contact
the UNHCR to seek their help.
Around 4.00 a.m.
the next day, July 26, 2002, I was put in a vehicle and driven to the Moc
Bai border [crossing] in Ben Cau district, Tay Ninh province. On the
Vietnamese side of the border, Vietnamese Security officials were waiting. I
saw the Cambodian and the Vietnamese Security Police shaking hands, smiling
and talking to each other. After that, they took me to the Security Police
Detention Centre B34/A24 [in Ho Chi Minh City]. The Ministry of Public
Security issued a temporary detention warrant, and charged me with
“fleeing abroad or defecting to stay overseas with a view to opposing the
people’s administration,” under Article 91 of the Criminal Code of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On March 12, 2004, the Ho Chi Minh City
People’s Court sentenced me to 20 months in prison. I was released after
completing this sentence on March 26, 2004.
For more information, please contact:
Human Rights Watch
In New York, Sam Zarifi: +1 212 216 1213
Amnesty
International
In London, Saria Rees-Roberts: + 44 207 4135729
--
Liz Weiss
Coordinator
Asia Division
Human Rights Watch
1630 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 500
Washington, DC 20009
tel: 202-612-4338
fax: 202-612-4333
