In an appeal hearing lasting about three hours on August 25, the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi upheld the nine-year prison sentence for well-known human rights activist and journalist Pham Doan for the chase of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code 1999.
Ms. Trang, 44, was arrested in early October 2020, and later found guilty by the People’s Court of Hanoi in the first-instance hearing in late December 2021.
According to the indictment, from November 16, 2017, to December 5, 2018, Ms. Doan Trang made, stored, and circulated documents and articles with content aimed at destroying the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Four lawyers who defended the Hanoi-based journalist during the hearing said she did not admit guilt, and kept quiet for most of the hearing. Lawyer Trinh Vinh Phuc told Radio Free Asia (RFA) over the phone:
“Attorney Nguyen Van Miem when he mentioned the gap between Vietnam’s laws and international treaties, the analytical lawyer was stopped by the presiding judge who affirms that the hearing is being carried out according to Vietnamese law.”
Lawyer Phuc also said that his colleague was also interrupted by the chairman when he said that his client Pham Doan Trang is highly appreciated by the international community by giving her many prestigious awards but was imprisoned by the Vietnamese government.
Phuc said the attitude of the presiding judge was relatively mild while the representative of the Procuracy showed hostility towards his client. While the presiding judge agreed to let Ms. Trang sit while speaking, the prosecutor often objected to this.
Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted the hearing panel’s comments during the trial that the defendant’s behavior was dangerous to society and was done with the intentional error of infringing on the socialist regime in the ideological, cultural, and social domains, infringing upon the strength of the people’s administration.
“The defendant herself is a person with a certain level of awareness, the defendant understands and knows the consequences of her violation but still actively performs it for a long time, so it is necessary to strictly punish her,” the judge was quoted as saying.
Ms. Trang, for reasons of health and perhaps also her attitude towards the hearing, sat in a chair throughout the hearing, and only stood up for a moment when the presiding judge read the first part of the verdict. Lawyer Phuc reported:
“As for the defense, it was not as exciting as the first-instance hearing. The reason is partly that the defendant – Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang is not eager to speak up.
When asked by the court, she said she has no need to question and answer and argue, the court can decide soon and decide how to announce the sentence.
She said the sentencing is already arranged and no matter what she says, it’s not going anywhere. She refused some questions from the judge and many questions from representatives of the Procuracy.”
Even instead of answering the prosecutor’s question about her environment and human rights affairs, the author of many human rights reports replied with questions.
“When the procuratorate asked why and on what basis did the defendant care about environmental issues and what authority did the defendant have to pay attention to it, Ms. Trang replied with the question ‘Which legal document states that citizens should not care about the environment?’”
Lawyer Trinh Vinh Phuc said that the representative of the Procuracy also received the same question when asking about her advocacy for religious freedom.
The lawyers said that their client is a citizen with a sense of responsibility before society and the community, a genuine journalist, committed to speaking out about issues of environment, injustice, human rights, protecting human dignity… Her statements and actions are beyond the current norm, but that does not mean that she acted improperly and broke the law.
They believe that the conviction of the Hanoi People’s Court in the first-instance session was unjust and their client should be considered to be declared innocent and released at court. In concluding his defense, Mr. Phuc said:
“If the defense efforts of lawyers to defend the accused, the voices of many international human rights organizations have not changed the views of state agencies and courts, then you can imprison Pham Doan Trang, but history will erase her sentence!”
Bui Thi Thien Can, the mother of activist Pham Doan Trang, told RFA how she felt after hearing the court’s ruling.
“Our family had already expected it, and it was not a surprise. Because the hearing is a show-up one. Its outcome was decided by top leaders, not by the judge in the hearing.”
She said she and her son went to the court area early but was not allowed in by security. Representatives of a number of foreign diplomatic missions such as the Delegation of the European Union (EU) and the embassies of the United States, Czech Republic, Germany, and Switzerland arrived but were not allowed to enter the courtroom even though they had sent requests to observe the public court session.
The court said that representatives of foreign diplomatic missions need to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, but the court does not have the authority to let them in, Ms. Can added.
Many dissidents in Hanoi complained on Facebook that local authorities sent security forces to stations near their private residences and prevented them from going out during the hearing.
Ms. Trang has worked as a reporter and collaborator for many Vietnamese state-controlled newspapers. She is also the author of many books such as Politics for ordinary people, Handbook for prisoners’ families, Nonviolent Resistance, and several bilingual human rights reports, including the Dong Tam Report.
She is also one of the founders of two independent newspapers, Luat Khoa Magazine and The Vietnamese, an English-language human rights magazine.
For her human rights and writing activities, Ms. Pham Doan Trang has been awarded many international awards, including the US State Department’s 2022 Woman of Courage Award, the Media Freedom Award 2022 by the British and Canadian governments, the Homo Homini Award 2017 by the People In Need (Czech Republic), the Press Freedom Prize 2019 by Reporters Without Borders (RFS), the Martin Ennals Award 2022, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom Award 2022.
Before the trial, many international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and PEN America called on Vietnam to release Ms. Trang immediately and unconditionally.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
