Lê Văn Dũng, also known as Lê Dũng Vova, born in 1970, is an engineer and a freelance journalist who resides in Hanoi. He is famous for his Facebook and YouTube based channel where he live-broadcasts the country’s current issues on politics, social issues, and alleged corruption. Mr. Dũng also practically helps people suffering from injustice to have their voices heard, at their own request. He is the manager of CHTV, an independent media organization reporting news and debates on national affairs with about 30,000 Facebook followers.
Activism
For years, Mr. Dũng has been outspoken and dedicated to the country’s human rights situation and other societal issues, leading him to constant harassment from the authorities. [1]
On February 27, 2019, he was arrested while photographing and filming Donald Trump’s convoy passing by Trang Tien Street in Hanoi, during the North Korea and United States summit.
On October 6, 2019, Mr. Dũng and several other activists attended a workshop on the South China Sea in Hanoi. After the session, they headed to a café for lunch when more than ten public security officials barged in and asked the group to Nguyen Gia Thieu’s police station. He and the others were arrested and questioned individually for more than seven hours about their media activities. They were demanded to erase all of the workshop’s recordings and notes. All of their belongings were seized, including eight mobile phones, two cameras, and other machinery. [2] [3]
In January 2021, Mr. Dũng publicly applied to run as a self-nominated candidate for the election. [4] The local public security surrounded his home on January 21 just one week later with the intention of arresting him.
Arrest and detention
On May 25, 2021, Mr. Dũng was away from home when police tried to arrest him on charges under article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. The authorities, therefore, issued a special warrant calling for the arrest of an independent journalist who evaded police following an attempt last week to detain him at his home in Hanoi, placing notices in major media outlets around the country. [5]
On June 30, 2021, Mr. Dũng was arrested at his hometown, Ung Hoa District, Hanoi. He was held incommunicado and had no access to a lawyer until January 2022 or his family until August 2022.
Mr. Dũng’s trial took place in March, 2022. He was found guilty of “anti-state propaganda” and given a sentence of five years’ imprisonment, followed by five years’ probation. He admitted having posted the material, but yet insisted it was legal. As predicted, his wife and his mother were not permitted inside the courtroom, despite the fact that the trial was allegedly open to the public.
On August 16, 2022, the five years’ imprisonment sentence was confirmed in appeal. Mr. Dũng’s lawyer, Mr. Đặng Đình Mạnh stated that the trial lasted less than two hours, was shallow, and his arguments were cut off. The lawyer also stated that Mr. Dũng was unconcerned about the outcome and appeared relaxed, “smiling during the hearing.” [6]
International communications
On November 2, 2022, UN experts sent a communication to the Government of Viet Nam concerning 18 Vietnamese human rights defenders. Mr. Lê Văn Dũng’s case was included as a follow-up communication as he was the subject of the previous communication by Special Procedures mandate holders sent on 1 November 2021 (AL VNM 4/2021). [7] [8]
The UN experts expressed their deep concerns on all cases mentioned, urged the Government of Viet Nam to provide information on the legal basis for the arrest, detention and legal prosecutions of the activists, and to explain how those are in line with international human rights standards of the ICCPR and UDHR.
References:
[1] [6] https://the88project.org/profile/335/le-van-dung/ [2] https://www.facebook.com/Vova.ttxvh/posts/501732740378012 [3] https://www.facebook.com/AlfonsoVova/posts/2478533582269124 [4] https://www.qdnd.vn/chong-dien-bien-hoa-binh/su-that-ve-cai-goi-la-kenh-truyen-hinh-chtv-va-nha-bao-le-dung-vo-va-655814 [5] https://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/warrant-06022021174149.html [7] https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=27619 [8] https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26688
