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amnesty international

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Two official Directives relating to anti-government activities

June 2003			Summary
AI Index: ASA 41/018/2003

This report contains unofficial translations of two secret Directives issued by the Politburo of the Communist Party of Viet Nam reportedly addressed to the Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Veterans Association in early 2003.

The Directives provide an insight and invaluable background information into the government crackdown, arrests and recent trials of dissidents in Viet Nam. The first of the two Directives indicates what can only be described as a state of paranoia within the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of Viet Nam, with assertions that they are surrounded by enemies and that they are using "peaceful evolution" as part of an overall strategy to overthrow the present government.

The second Directive addresses the cases of Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue and Tran Dung Tien, all high-profile dissidents who are currently awaiting trial on espionage charges, according to the document. Colonel Pham Que Duong, a 72 year old military historian, was arrested on 28 December 2002; Professor Tran Khue, a 67 year old former professor of Vietnamese and Chinese literature and writer, was arrested on 29 December 2002; and Tran Dung Tien, a 74 year old military veteran was arrested on 22 January 2003. To Amnesty International’s knowledge they have been detained without formal charge since then, in contravention of Viet Nam’s own Criminal Procedure Code.

It is apparent from the second Directive that there is no presumption of innocence in these three cases. It is also clear that any coordinated activity critical of and in opposition to the Communist Party of Viet Nam is perceived as being a threat to the state itself, despite a complete absence of reference to the use of force by the dissidents or the divulging of "state secrets".

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that, in such an atmosphere, grave miscarriages of justice are occurring with lengthy prison sentences being handed out to people exercising their basic and fundamental rights of freedom of expression, freedom of movement and freedom of association.

Dissidents who have already been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for open criticism of the government and dissemination of information over the Internet include Dr Pham Hong Son, who was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on 18 June 2003 on the charge of espionage; Le Chi Quang who was sentenced to four years imprisonment in November 2002 under national security legislation alleging "propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam"; and Nguyen Khac Toan, sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in December 2002 for espionage.

Dissident Nguyen Vu Binh, a former journalist at the Tap Chi Cong San(Communist Review), is also mentioned in the second Directive as having been "already arrested and prosecuted for spying activities". To Amnesty International’s knowledge, Nguyen Vu Binh, who was arrested on 25 September 2002, has not yet been brought to trial. The organization is concerned that – should he be brought to trial - the outcome is a foregone conclusion and that he will be given a lengthy prison sentence.

The branding of these dissidents as "spies" not only stifles freedom of expression through the use of loosely-worded national security legislation, but also criminalizes activities which are regarded as perfectly legal under international law and in most countries of the world.

Amnesty International considers these dissidents, who have not advocated the violent overthrow of the Vietnamese government, to be prisoners of conscience detained and imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association. The organization is calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

The official Vietnamese language versions of the two Directives are available on request.

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Two official Directives relating to

anti-government activities

Unofficial translation of two Directives issued by the Politburo of the Communist Party of Viet Nam in early 2003 to the Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Veterans Association

DIRECTIVE 1

In the forefront against "peaceful evolution": To push back the conspiracy to transform Viet Nam on the cultural and ideological level

Since the IX Congress of the Party (April 2001), the worldwide situation has changed rapidly and in a very complex way. The struggle for national liberation and the class struggle have intensified. International reactionary forces continue to push for the realization of the strategy of "peaceful evolution", in conjunction with a conspiracy to try to overthrow the socialist government in Viet Nam by force, to which end they consider "peaceful evolution" on cultural and ideological level as a breakthrough. The following activities are most noticeable:

- Through such means as mass media, especially radio, television, the internet, various information offices of embassies, so-called press conferences, visits, contacts, seminars.., they distribute and propagate wrong or reactionary ideas to negate the Marxist Leninist ideology and Ho Chi Minh thought, the fundamental ideology of our Party; to negate the ideal of socialism; to attack the leadership of the Party; to distort and blacken the revolutionary history of the Party and the people; to incite opposition and promote violence.

- Incite to destroy the unity among ethnic groups, religions, push forth illegal missionary work, especially with demagogic means in ethnic minority areas, in order to attract the masses into reactionary groups hidden behind religion; hastily trying to gather forces to establish the so called "independent Dega state", "independent Khmer Krom state", "Hmong Kingdom", "Champa Kingdom" etc.; to increase activities to take the masses away from us at the grass root level, to incite violence.

- Through activities in economic, cultural, educational, training cooperation, they intensify efforts to buy off, attract our cadres, gather the support of young intellectuals, intensify the propagation of capitalist culture and ways of life, to push into decline political, ethical standards of our cadre, our party members and our youth.

The fact that there are efforts to create political and social disturbances in some areas recently, the most important example being the rebellion in the Central Highlands in February 2001, as well as the appearance of new social unrest are all due to "peaceful evolution" activities by enemy forces.

More than ever, Vietnamese war veterans must rightfully recognize the danger of increasingly blatant efforts by enemy forces. We must be constantly vigilant in our revolutionary zeal to defend against their devious "peaceful evolution" conspiracy; be firm in our Marxist Leninist ideology and in Ho Chi Minh thought; be firm in our struggle to fight against wrong thinking, to keep firmly to the socialist creed; to increase in efforts to educate and control cadres and members; to strictly keep state secrets; to be vigilant in our talks; to have ready measures to control the distribution of reactionary materials. Under the leadership of local party committees and the government, all the branches must be vigilant in keeping in touch with, and understanding the thinking of veterans and the people in their areas; to act as advisors to the local party apparatus, or local government; and to actively help in the effort to stamp out "hot spots". Do not allow these "hot spots" to linger, to spread, affecting adversely on political security and social order, in order to create a healthy and strong society, and contribute to strong political organization at the grass roots level, especially in important areas. Be proactive in attack, push back all efforts to transform Viet Nam by all enemy forces on the cultural and ideological front.

DIRECTIVE 2

Illegal activities of Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue and Tran Dung Tien

On 28/12/2002, public security forces in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, caught Pham Que Duong and his wife, Do Thi Cu, in the act of carrying many anti-government materials from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh city to meet Tran Khue, one of the ring leaders of the group opposing our regime. Among the documents confiscated were papers revealing efforts to unite all opposing groups under the name of an "Anti-corruption Association", with the help of the overseas reactionaries to establish six representative offices in the US, Canada, Russia, Eastern Europe, Europe, Asia and Australia, and four representatives inside the country. Evidence captured has shown that Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue and some others have cooperated closely with leaders of reactionary forces in France and the United States etc., conspiring to establish a party called "Democracy Movement" but presenting itself in public as a movement to fight corruption so as to unite in order to destroy our regime.

Based on this "caught-red-handed evidence", public security officials in Ho Chi Minh City arrested and quickly searched the houses of Pham Que Duong and Tran Khue.

In Pham Que Duong's house at 37 Ly Nam De Street in Ha Noi, the security forces confiscated 902 documents, among which are a number of top secret documents from the Party and the Government. Many documents reveal the advice from overseas reactionary groups to Pham Que Duong and information that Pham Que Duong has sent abroad to these reactionary groups. After careful investigation, it is discovered that Pham Que Duong has four accounts in various banks, one reserved for the receipt of US dollars, Euros, French Francs. In these accounts, from December 2000 till November 2002, Pham Que Duong received seven transfers from Nguyen Gia Kieng, who leads a reactionary group by the name of "Rally for Democracy and Pluralism", and some other overseas reactionary groups including the "People’s Action Party" of Nguyen Si Binh from the US, altogether an amount of 200 million dongs (converted from foreign currency into Vietnamese currency). Investigation forces have also confiscated from Pham Que Duong's house a number of receipts acknowledging receiving money as well as receipt of payments, etc., that overseas reactionaries sent to Pham Que Duong so that Duong could provide information about national security, as well as money from overseas reactionaries to help him contact and attract followers in order to incite public opinion by going to court and suing the government to in order to create social disturbances.

At Tran Khue's house at 296 Nguyen Trai, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, public security gathered 90 items related to activities in conjunction with those already arrested and prosecuted for spying activities such as Le Chi Quang, Nguyen Vu Binh and some other political opportunists. Documents in his computer show that Tran Khue used the internet to correspond with overseas Vietnamese reactionaries. At the same time, officers have also collected important evidence that Tran Khue received money from leaders of the overseas reactionary forces to act against the government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The confiscated documents show that from the beginning of 2002 till arrested, Tran Khue received 10,000 US dollars from these people. Most noticeable, previously in March 2003 while Tran Khue was still under administrative detention, Ho Chi Minh City police and public security found Khue was providing information to Nguyen Kha, Pham Thanh Chuong. In Khue's house, public security discovered 80 documents, 22 information booklets, and 600 emails that Tran Khue had sent to overseas reactionary forces to be used against us.

On 22 January 2003, public security in Ha Noi caught Tran Dung Tien red-handed copying nine documents, altogether 170 copies, with anti-government and anti-Party contents. These documents blacken the names of a number of our comrade leaders, especially in a document called "The black box disclosed on the 100 day anniversary of Tran Do's death", which alleged that our leadership "In a rage, attacked intellectuals and army officers who were national heroes".

Based on this evidence, Ha Noi public security has arrested and urgently searched Tran Dung Tien's house and has confiscated 350 documents, altogether 1480 copies, many of which were written by Tran Dung Tien himself and some other opportunists with intent to accuse party leaders of wrong-doing and inciting opposition to the government.

These documents and evidence confiscated from the above culprits show that they have violated the law and cooperated with overseas Vietnamese reactionary forces to oppose the government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. On 2 January 2003, Public Security has started proceedings to prosecute Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue on the charge of espionage according to Article 80 of the Penal Code. In the case of Tran Khue, there is an added charge of violating the Administrative Detention Order according to Article 269 of the Penal Code.

Pham Que Duong, born in 1932, in the province of Ha Tay, now residing at No. 37 Ly Nam De, Ha Noi, was a Colonel in the army, ex Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Military History, and has retired. From 1986, he has taken advantage of his position as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Science and the Homeland. He published an article entitled "Discussing the Party's leadership" by an opposition figure, in which the author argued for the abolishment of Article 4 of the Constitution, seeking to destroy the constitutional role of the party. From then on, many agencies have sought to first educate and persuade, then threatened and warned him, but Pham Que Duong has just become more anti-government. In his role as "permanent representative of the Democracy movement" in North Viet Nam, he often communicates with a number of individuals and overseas Vietnamese organizations to receive money, and to provide information to the enemy forces against our government.

Tran Khue, born in 1936 in Nam Dinh, and now living at No 296 Nguyen Trai Street, Ward 6, 5th District, Ho Chi Minh City, was a teacher at the Ho Chi Minh City Teacher's University. He retired in 1989. Since 1999 until now, Tran Khue has written several documents demanding the abolition of the 4th clause of the constitution, change the name of the Party, of the nation, to destroy the tomb of president Ho and criticize our Party, our state and our leaders. Constantly communicating with those political opportunists abroad, he was appointed by them as "permanent representative of the Democracy movement" in the South to coordinate all the actions opposing our government. Tran Khue and Pham Que Duong and a few other political opportunists discussed the formation of an "Anti Corruption Association" with the intention of using demagogic tactics for political purposes, grouping their forces to form a "democracy movement" against our regime. In September 2001, Tran Khue was put under administrative detention for 24 months because of these illegal activities mentioned above. However, Tran Khue did not obey the administrative detention order, and continued to try to ally with Pham Que Duong and other individuals in overseas Vietnamese reactionary organizations such as "Free Viet Nam Alliance", "People's Action Party" etc. in order to continue to try to expand their forces. They tried hurriedly to form an opposition political organization, setting up representative offices abroad, accepting the directives and money from reactionary exiles organization to work against our state.

Through preliminary interrogations, Pham Que Duong and Tran Khue admitted that they and a few others have agreed to form the "Movement to Struggle for Democracy". They publicly admitted to contacts with reactionary organizations and individuals in the exiled Vietnamese community. They were given money by these reactionary organizations to organize and provide information to the reactionary "People's Action Party" of Nguyen Si Binh in America. They used the money received to buy personal computers for their opposition activities.

Tran Dung Tien, born in 1929, and now living at No 12, Alley 95, Cu Loc Street, Thanh Xuan district, Ha Noi. In 1945, he joined the national guard. In 1946, he joined the army. He joined the third class of the Army Officer School Tran Quoc Tuan and worked as a staff officer in the 320 Division. In 1960, he was disciplined and sent to work in the Hanoi Shoe and Leather Company. Dissatisfied and thinking that he was not recognized for the achievement in the army, he was incited by a few political opportunists to follow them so that from 1995 until now he got deeper and deeper into taking actions against our Party and our state.

Recently, Tran Dung Tien rose to prominence in the role of middle-man providing communication between leading political opportunists with political opportunists in the provinces. He was sent many times to Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City to assess the situation, do propaganda works to recruit a few of the dissatisfied opportunists to join the founding of a political opposition organization under the guise of the "Anti-Corruption Association"; he also wrote and disseminated documents containing coarse and bare-faced distortions of our Party's and our state's policies and criticized some of our leaders and law enforcement agencies. From 1996 until now, Tran Dung Tien himself wrote about 50 documents distorting and opposing our regime. He had been caught five times by the security forces of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Tay province whilst carrying documents that he and other political opportunists wrote to print and distribute. He was arrested once because of disorderly conduct outside the court during the trial of Le Chi Quang.

Even though responsible organizations, in cooperation with his family and his street house group, have patiently tried to educate and persuade him to drop his subversive activities, Dung Tien, not only did not repent but continued to act even more aggressively with an attitude of openly challenging the authorities. He continued to disseminate subversive documents and tried to incite and recruit others into joining the activities of the opposition.

Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue and Tran Dung Tien are the leaders of domestic political opportunists and are the main supports through which the reactionary and enemy forces abroad realize their aims of opposing and subverting our country. Thus, when we arrested and put them in detention, investigated and will try these three, it is certain that the enemy forces both inside and outside the country will try to counter and smear our Party and State with oppressing "those who struggle for democracy and human rights" and intervene to demand us to free them.

Recognizing these plots and intentions of these people, we, the Veterans need to heighten our awareness, proactively attack to counter the propaganda and distortion spread by the enemy forces against the Viet Nam Communist Party and state of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The relevant authorities in the Ministry of Public Security are now engaged in urgent investigations in order to bring Pham Que Duong, Tran Khue and Tran Dung Tien to public trial in the near future.

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