Alleged Torture of Tran Thi Hong Must be Investigated

In a joint statement released on 26 April, Civil Rights Defenders joins other civil society organisations in calling on Vietnam to carry out an investigation into allegations that Mrs. Tran Thi Hong was tortured on 30 March 2016 by the local authorities of Gia Lai Province, while in custody, bring perpetrators to justice, and provide reparations to Mrs. Tran Thi Hong.

Vietnam has obligations to do so under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). Vietnam is a state party to both treaties.

The local authorities allegedly attempted to extract information from Hong about her meeting two weeks earlier with a United States delegation led by Ambassador At Large on International Religious Freedom David Saperstein. Mrs Hong’s husband, Lutheran Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, was unjustly sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment in 2012 after being convicted of “undermining national unity” under Article 87 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.

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