IV. Vigorous Responses from the Family and Defense Team
Just as Dr. Vu’s legal campaigns against the government prior to his arrest in 2010 have few precedents in recent history, his family’s public fight for his freedom is relatively unique in the history of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
On November 6, 2010, the day after his arrest, his wife, Nguyen Thi Duong Ha and his sister, Cu Thi Xuan Bich, filed formal applications for his immediate release, pending the police investigation. On November 7, Nguyen Thi Duong Ha submitted a request to be Dr. Vu’s defense lawyer, and on November 8, she submitted another request for information about her husband’s detention. Also on November 8, Nguyen Thi Duong Ha submitted an urgent denunciation to the Justice Committee of the National Assembly, outlining serious violations that police committed during her husband’s arrest and the search of their house.
Not a week has passed since Dr. Vu’s arrest in which his family has not submitted a petition to the police, the National Assembly, or to various government offices and agencies calling for his release and for charges against him to be dropped.
Catholics and non-Catholics alike joined prayer vigils at Thai Ha Parish in Hanoi prior to Dr. Vu’s trial. Shown above are his wife, Nguyen Thi Duong Ha (middle, in black), and sister, Cu Thi Xuan Bich (left, in gray jacket) on April 2, 2011. © 2011 Wind Merchant
Perhaps the most controversial step that Dr. Vu, his family, and his lawyers took was to formally request that President Nguyen Minh Triet represent the government in the case. According to this line of legal argument, because Dr. Vu is accused of “propagandizing against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” the victim and plaintiff in the case is thus the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which should be represented by the president. On March 23, 2011, Ha Huy Son, one of Dr. Vu’s defense lawyers, submitted a request to the Hanoi People’s Court formally asking the court to summon President Nguyen Minh Triet, Lt. Gen. Hoang Kong Tu of the Ministry of Public Security, and Ho Le Nhu Quynh to participate in the legal proceedings, because they were either “victims” or individuals with “interests and responsibilities related to the case.”[21]
Dr. Vu and his defense lawyers also asked for other parties to be allowed to participate in his trial because they were mentioned in the indictment against him. These organizations and individuals are Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Vietnamese Service; Voice of America’s (VOA) Vietnamese Service; and Nguyen Thi Tram Oanh, a member of Journalists Without Borders in Germany. Nguyen Thi Tram Oanh agreed to participate. Independent bloggers Bui Thanh Hieu (“Wind Merchant”) and Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (“Mother Mushroom”) both published open letters on their websites urging RFA and VOA to respond to Dr. Vu’s request. On January 25, 2011, RFA issued a letter to the Hanoi People’s Court to “urge that Mr. Ha Vu be released immediately, the charges against him dropped, and Mr. Ha Vu be allowed to express himself without further interference.”[22] VOA did not submit a statement to the court.
On March 27, 2011, lawyer Vuong Thi Thanh of the defense team submitted a request asking the Hanoi People’s Court to resolve a number of issues before the trial began on April 4. According to her request, the court had not provided the defense team with names of people who would be summoned as witnesses, nor had it specified what evidence, if any, needed to be present at court for examination. Vuong Thi Thanh also stated that Dr. Vu had not received a written copy of his indictment. [23] Unless these problems were addressed before the trial opened, she stated, “there will be no guarantee for an objective trial and it will also seriously violate the law.”[24]
On March 29, Dr. Vu’s family published an open letter calling on “the people of Vietnam” and “those who love justice and truth, and support progress and the sovereignty of Vietnam” to support and pray for him. Entitled “A Call for Help,” the letter asserts that “this is a case that has seriously violated the law of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from the beginning to now.” It urged people to go to court on the trial day to “witness a man of fairness and integrity being tried” (mot phien toa xet xu nguoi cong chinh).[25]
During the months before the trial, family members sent numerous requests to the police newspaper, Cong An Nhan Dan, demanding the correction of false news about their family and a public apology. Dr. Vu’s wife, sister, and uncles also gave interviews on BBC Vietnamese Service, RFA Vietnamese Service, VOA Vietnamese Service, RFI Vietnamese Service, and the oversea Vietnamese website Dan Chim Viet Online. [26] Vietnamese government officials consider all these media outlets sufficiently sensitive that they face internet firewalls in various parts of Vietnam.
On February 8, 2011, Dr. Vu’s sister, Cu Thi Xuan Bich, gave an interview on RFA’s Vietnamese Service in which she expressed anxiety about her brother’s health in detention. Dr. Vu has heart disease and police had refused to let his family send him medicine. In an interview with RFA, she expressed her frustration at the police’s silence, despite multiple requests from the family, and asserted her firm belief in her brother’s innocence.[27]
[21] Ha Huy Son, “A Request to Summon People to Participate in the Legal Proceedings of the Case (supplemental)” (Yeu cau trieu tap nguoi tham gia to tung cua vu an [co bo sung]), Bauxite Vietnam, March 25, 2011, http://www.boxitvn.net/bai/19062 (accessed March 28, 2011).
[22]Radio Free Asia, “Letter to Request the Hanoi People’s Court to Release Mr. Cu Huy Ha Vu Immediately,” Cu Huy Ha Vu website, February 9, 2011: http://chhv.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/dai-rfa-vi%E1%BA%BFt-th%C6%B0-yeu-c%E1%BA%A7u-toa-an-nhan-dan-ha-n%E1%BB%99i-tr%E1%BA%A3-t%E1%BB%B1-do-ngay-cho-ts-cu-huy-ha-vu/#more-2104 (accessed March 11, 2011).
[23]Cu Huy Ha Vu was allegedly presented with a copy of the written indictment by the procurators during investigation period, but he refused to accept it unless his lawyers were also present. The indictment was thus read aloud to him instead. See Ho Thu Hong, “A Stone Thrown into a Pond of Weeds” (Hon da nem xuong ao beo), April 4, 2011, blog Beo, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AQ0mTZDyQF0J:vn.360plus.yahoo.com/thuhong_1960/article%3Fmid%3D2337+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=encrypted.google.com (accessed April 25, 2011); see also “Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu’s Wife Talks about the Trial” (Vo Ts Luat Cu Huy Ha Vu noi ve phien xu), BBC, March 31, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/2011/03/110331_cuhuyhavu_update.shtml (accessed April 2, 2011).
[24] Vuong Thi Thanh, “A Request asking the Court to Solve a Number of Problems before Opening the Preliminary Criminal Trial on April 4, 2011 to Try the Defendant Cu Huy Ha Vu” (Yeu cau Toa an giai quyet mot so van de truoc khi mo phien toa hinh su so tham ngay 04/4/2011 doi voi bi cao Cu Huy Ha Vu), Cu Huy Ha Vu, March 27, 2011, http://chhv.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/yeu-c%E1%BA%A7u-toa-an-gi%E1%BA%A3i-quy%E1%BA%BFt-m%E1%BB%99t-s%E1%BB%91-v%E1%BA%A5n-d%E1%BB%81-tr%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc-khi-m%E1%BB%9F-phien-toa-hinh-s%E1%BB%B1-s%C6%A1-th%E1%BA%A9m-xet-x%E1%BB%AD-ts-cu-hu/ (accessed March 28, 2011).
[25]Nguyen Thi Duong Ha & Cu Thi Xuan Bich, “A Call for Help” (Loi keu cuu), Cu Huy Ha Vu, March 29, 2011, http://chhv.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/l%E1%BB%9Di-keu-c%E1%BB%A9u-c%E1%BB%A7a-v%E1%BB%A3-va-em-gai-ts-cu-huy-ha-vu%E2%80%8F/ (accessed March 29, 2011).
[26] “Dan Chim Viet’s Governing Board” (Dan chim Viet, Ban Dieu Hanh),Dan Chim Viet, http://www.danchimviet.info/governing-board (accessed April 1, 2011).
[27] Viet Hung interviews Cu Thi Xuan Bich, “The Situation of Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu These days” (Tinh hinh TS Cu Huy Ha Vu hien nay), Radio Free Asia, http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/dr-cu-huy-ha-vu-s-health-condition-is-getting-worst-while-he-is-in-jail-vh-02082011153908.html (accessed February 9, 2011).