Vietnam jails retired teacher for 14 years for ‘subversion’
Hanoi, Vietnam - A retired teacher was jailed on Wednesday for 14 years for ‘attempting to overthrow the state’, the latest in a series of convictions this week as Communist Vietnam cracks down harder on critics.
Former primary school teacher Dao
Quang Thuc (58) was jailed after speaking out on Facebook about environmental issues and Vietnam’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea.
His daughter said he was not given a fair trial and insisted he is innocent.
“The trial today was not transparent. Not many people were allowed to attend and those present at the court were not objective,” Dao Ngoc Bich Quynh Trang said after the brief hearing in Hoa Binh province west of Hanoi. She added that her father, who appeared weak on Wednes- day, had been badly beaten after his arrest in October 2017. “He was left without food, they beat him with shoes and he was sent to hospital for one week.
Vietnam has one of the worst records in the region for jailing activists, lawyers and bloggers. It has targeted critics with impunity this year, with more than 40 convicted since January.
Observers say a conservative leadership in charge since 2016 is driving the crackdown. Right groups accuse the United States and the European Union of doing little to speak out against it.
The sentence follows a series of convictions this week against demonstrators who took to the streets in June in protest at a proposed law to grant lengthy leases to foreign investors in special economic zones.
Not many people were allowed to attend and those present at the court were not objective
Dao Ngoc Bich Quynh Trang