Prisoners of Conscience in Vietnam
With at least 260 prisoners of conscience, Vietnam is the second largest jailer of peaceful dissidents in Southeast Asia, after Myanmar.
There are more than 200 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, according to the Now! Campaign for the Release of Prisoners of Conscience in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, prisoners of conscience are routinely deprived of basic rights from the moment they are arrested until after they finish serving their sentences, when they are placed under probationary detention for up to five years.
Most are arrested on the basis of imprecisely-defined national security provisions in Vietnam's Criminal Code and other laws that the government uses to imprison peaceful political and religious dissidents. Rights groups estimate that approximately 246 prisoners of conscience are currently detained or imprisoned in Vietnam, the majority on national security charges.
Most are arrested on the basis of imprecisely-defined national security provisions in Vietnam's Criminal Code and other laws that the government uses to imprison peaceful political and religious dissidents. Rights groups estimate that approximately 246 prisoners of conscience are currently detained or imprisoned in Vietnam, the majority on national security charges.
Montagnard Prisoners of ConscienceWhile indigenous minority Montagnards make up only two percent of Vietnam's population, they are disproportionately represented among the country's unjustly imprisoned prisoners of conscience. For more information, about Montagnard Persecution, please click here.
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Abuses of Prisoners of ConscienceA. Abuses in Police Custody and Pre-Trial DetentionThe detention of many political and religious dissidents in Vietnam starts with their arrest and abduction by police, and then with their disappearance. (Read more.)
B. Abuses In Prison: Isolation And Harsh TreatmentOnce tried and sentenced to prison, prisoners of conscience are physically separated from the general inmate population and stripped of many of the rights accorded to other prisoners under Vietnamese law. (Read more.)
Circular 37: “Legal" Basis for Vietnam’s Harsh Treatment of Prisoners of ConscienceThe segregation and discriminatory treatment of dissidents sentenced for national security crimes is provided by Ministry of Public Security Circular 37. Issued in 2011, the circular calls for the isolation of prisoners of conscience in special "security sections" of prisons, where they are subject to harsh treatment and denial of many of the rights accorded to common criminal offenders. (Read more.)
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