ACAT-France is calling for the immediate release of award-winning journalist and human rights defender Pham Doan Trang who was sentenced to 9 years in prison by the Vietnamese authorities. ACAT and several international organizations reiterate the decision was arbitrary and is considered a violation of international human rights standards.
Title: J’agis Pour Que Pham Doan Trang Soit Libéréé
Publish Date: March 24, 2022
Publisher: Action Des Chrétiens Pour L’abolition De La Torture (ACAT)
Excerpt:
Note: Original texts in French.
Freelance journalist and human rights defender Pham Doan Trang was sentenced to nine years in prison by the People’s Court of Hanoi, for “crimes” of writing and “anti-state propaganda”.
Internationally recognized independent journalism
The journalist, who received the Reporters Without Borders Prize for Press Freedom in 2019, was named the winner of the Martin Ennals Prize for Human Rights Defenders in January 2022 and won the Canada-UK Media Freedom Award, which recognizes the work of those who work for freedom of the media. Members of the Vietnamese diaspora are currently campaigning for her to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
An arbitrary procedure in violation of international human rights standards
As a reminder, Pham Doan Trang was arrested on October 6, 2020 at her home. ACAT-France then launched a call for mobilization to support it.
Since then, she has been the subject of legal proceedings contrary to her right to a fair trial. Indeed, the charges against her were not communicated to her until August 2021. In addition, she was deprived of the right to speak with her lawyer, to see her family and to receive the medical care she needed. , despite the deterioration of his health. On October 25, 2021, his detention was deemed arbitrary under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the United Nations Specialized Working Group on this subject, which called for his detention. immediate release.
She was eventually sentenced on December 14, 2021 to nine years in prison, a longer sentence than originally requested, as judges considered that her interviews with foreign media aggravated the charges against her and that her behavior was ” dangerous” for Vietnamese society.
This decision was made on the basis of Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code, which has been the subject of repeated criticism by United Nations experts. They consider that it violates international human rights standards on freedom of opinion, expression and association. This condemnation was deplored throughout the international community.
Pham Doan Trang declined to plead guilty and said, “the longer the prison sentence, the more it will demonstrate the authoritarian, illiberal and undemocratic nature of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. »
ACAT-France calls for recognition of the arbitrary nature of his detention, the illegal nature of his conviction and his immediate release.
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