The
Observatory has been informed about the conviction and ongoing
arbitrary detention of MsHoang
Thi Minh Hong,
prominent environmental rights defender and founder and director of
the now dissolved environmental rights organisation Change VN. Change
VN’s mission was to promote and encourage the care and preservation
of the environment through education and innovative communications,
in order to change habits and inspire community action in Vietnam.
From 2013 to 2022, the organisation carried out more than 200
projects and campaigns related to the environment. Change VN was
closed down in late 2022, following the arrest of several
environmental human rights defenders in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Ms
Hoang founded Choice, a consultancy company on environmental issues.
On
September 28, 2023, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced
Hoang Thi Minh Hong to three years in prison and a fine of 100
million dong (approximately 3,890 Euros) on charges of “tax
evasion” (Article 200 of Vietnam’s 2015 Criminal Code) for
allegedly evading 6.7 billion dong (approximately 261,000 Euros) in
taxes linked to Change VN between 2012 and 2022. Ms Hoang admitted to
the charges against her and already repaid the state 3.5 billion dong
(approximately 136,000 Euros) in return for leniency. After the
trial, Ms Hoang was remanded to T30 Prison, where she has been
arbitrarily detained since she was indicted in this case on June 14,
2023.
The
Observatory recalls that Hoang Thi Minh Hong was arrested on May 31,
2023, by police officers in Ho Chi Minh City. Her home and the
offices of Choice were searched. Ms Hoang was subsequently kept in
temporary detention until being transferred on June 14, 2023, from
Chí Hòa Prison in Ho Chi Minh City to T30 Prison, a bigger
detention centre located two hours away from Ho Chi Minh City. At the
time, United Nations (UN) human rights experts raised
their concerns
over Ms Hoang’s detention, and over the fact that the charges of
“tax evasion” appeared “to be politically motivated and
targeting Ms. Hoang’s legitimate work on environmental protection”.
The
Observatory recalls that this sentence is part of a wider crackdown
against land and environmental rights defenders in Vietnam, with
authorities using politically-motivated “tax evasion” charges
against them in order to curtail legitimate and peaceful activities
to protect the environment and combat climate change. Since 2021, in
addition to Hoang Thi Minh Hong,
five other land and environmental rights defenders have been
arbitrarily detained or imprisoned on “tax evasion” charges: Mai
Phan Loi
and Nguy
Thi Khanh,
both granted early release in
May and September 2023, respectively; Duong
Hung Bach
served a two-year and-three-months prison sentences imposed on August
11, 2022; Dang
Dinh Bach,
serving a five-year prison sentence imposed on January 24, 2022 and
currently detained under extremely harsh conditions in Prison No. 6
in Nghe An Province ; Hoang
Ngoc Giao,
arrested in December 2022, and currently detained awaiting trial. A
sixth environmental rights defender, Ms. Ngo
Thi To Nhien,
CEO of the climate change think tank VIET was arrested on September
25, 2023 on charges of “appropriating documents” belonging to the
state electricity conglomerate Vietnam Electricity (EVN).
The
Observatory expresses its deepest concern about the Vietnamese
authorities’ legal harassment, especially through the use of
tax-related legal provisions, against environmental activists, to
criminalise them.
The
Observatory denounces the disproportionate sanction against Hoang Thi
Minh Hong, as she has no criminal record and showed her willingness
to pay back taxes.
The
Observatory strongly condemns the unfair convictions, ongoing
arbitrary detention, and judicial harassment of Hoang Thi Minh Hong,
Dang Dinh Bach, Hoang Ngoc Giao, and Ngo Thi To Nhien,
as
they seem to be aimed at punishing them for their legitimate
environmental and human rights activities.
The
Observatory urges the Vietnamese authorities to put an end to all
acts of harassment against the above-mentioned human rights defenders
and immediately and unconditionally release them.
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