UNWGAD blatantly interferes in Vietnam's internal affairs

Accordingly, this Group believes that Vietnam's arrest of Pham Thi Doan Trang is "arbitrary". Furthermore, they put on Pham Thi Doan Trang the cloak of "freelance journalist", "independent journalist" and then falsely accused that "Vietnam blatantly violated freedom of speech and freedom of the press" and called on the Vietnamese government to release the subject immediately and unconditionally. The UNWGAD's actions are absurd and blatant interference in Vietnam's internal affairs.

The violation of the law is very clear.

Pham Thi Doan Trang was born and raised in a well-disciplined family. Although she was well-educated, due to her loose, disorganized life, lack of training and self-cultivation, and being infiltrated with reactionary and opposing ideology by some exiled organizations and individuals, Pham Thi Doan Trang slid down the path of sin.

According to the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Hanoi City,criminal behavior of Pham Thi Doan Trangis undeniable.

From November 2017 to December 2018, Pham Thi Doan Trang produced, stored, and circulated documents and articles with distorted and untrue content aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Pham Thi Doan Trang repeatedly gave interviews to foreign media with content that violated Vietnamese law.

More specifically, Pham Thi Doan Trang and a number of others created the electronic news site “luatkhoa…”. The news site “luatkhoa…” posted publicly on the internet is in Vietnamese, containing a lot of information that distorts and falsifies human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. The investigation results of the security agency also clearly determined that Pham Thi Doan Trang had 13 interviews with audio and images; 3 articles including photos or articles published on foreign newspapers, with a lot of misleading, distorted, and falsified content that distorted the nature of events and issues in Vietnam.

Before the authorities, Pham Thi Doan Trang confirmed that she was the author of the “Report - Research: Assessment of the Law on Belief and Religion in 2016 and the implementation of the right to religious belief”. Pham Thi Doan Trang confessed that the “report” was written by herself and a group of authors in English in October 2017. Afterwards, Pham Thi Doan Trang translated it into Vietnamese and posted it on the “luatkhoa...” page in November 2017.

In addition, Pham Thi Doan Trang also possessed documents such as: "General assessment of the human rights situation in Vietnam"; "Summary report on the marine environmental disaster in Vietnam";... The conclusion of the People's Procuracy showed that the above documents contained propaganda content "psychological warfare arguments, spreading fabricated news to cause panic among the people, and propagating informationdistorting the policy, the policy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Pham Thi Doan Trang also has close ties with many reactionary exile organizations, notably "Viet Tan", "VOICE"...

Faced with the subject's very clear serious violations of the law, the Security Investigation Agency prosecuted and temporarily detained Pham Thi Doan Trang for the crime of "propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam", stipulated in Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code and the crime of "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents, and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" stipulated in Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code. The Hanoi City People's Procuracy also issued a Decision approving the Decisions of the Security Investigation Agency of the Hanoi City Police against the accused Pham Thi Doan Trang and continued to carry out procedural steps to bring her to trial in accordance with the provisions of law.

Subject Pham Doan Trang listens to the arrest warrant being read. Photo: CAND

Freedom within the law

Like every country in the world, in order to regulate all activities of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, protect national and ethnic interests, and the legitimate rights and interests of others, the Vietnamese State has built a comprehensive and synchronous basic legal framework. In the process of law-making in general, the Press Law, the Cyber ​​Security Law... in particular, Vietnam has carefully studied and internalized international conventions that Vietnam has participated in; organized discussions and collected democratic opinions from the people. The two basic requirements that the Vietnamese legal system, including legal documents on freedom of speech, freedom of the press,... always meet are: Being consistent with historical reality, traditional culture of the nation and compatible with international law.

Looking at the Vietnamese legal system in general, the law on freedom of speech and freedom of the press in particular has entered life, contributing significantly to increasingly better ensuring freedom of speech, keeping the press environment and cyberspace of Vietnam increasingly safe, healthy and useful.

On the other hand, it is necessary to understand and unify the perception that freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet... must be within the framework of the law, not unorganized and unlimited freedom. Not only in Vietnam but every country in the world has established a legal system to regulate the activities of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet... to serve the interests of the nation and people. Vietnam's legal system has a close connection between rights and obligations and responsibilities of citizens. Vietnamese law does not allow any citizentaking advantage of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet and social networks to infringe upon the rights and legitimate interests of others, harm social morality, public order and national security.

Unacceptable behavior

The investigation results of the authorities show that Pham Thi Doan Trang's illegal behavior is very clear. The Hanoi People's Procuracy's decision to approve the decisions of the Hanoi Police Department's Investigation Security Agency against Pham Thi Doan Trang is in accordance with the law.

As a citizen who violated the law, Pham Thi Doan Trang must naturally be subject to legal measures. This is not only done in Vietnam but also in every country in the world to maintain discipline and the law. Vietnam never arbitrarily applies measures to citizens when there is not enough legal basis for the violation of the law. The UNWGAD said that Vietnam's "arbitrary" arrest of Pham Thi Doan Trang is unreasonable and baseless.

The organization "Reporters Without Borders" portrays Pham Thi Doan Trang as an independent journalist fighting against negativity, thereby accusing Vietnam of not having press freedom. Photo: vtv.vn

Before committing illegal acts, Pham Thi Doan Trang was a collaborator and reporter for a number of press agencies but was disciplined and forced to resign. Pham Thi Doan Trang is not a journalist as UNWGAD thinks. According to the law, in Vietnam there are only reporters and journalists working at press and media agencies and participating in the Vietnam Journalists Association. In Vietnam there are no “freelance journalists”, “independent journalists” or “Vietnam Independent Journalists Association” as some hostile and reactionary organizations and individuals often claim. All Vietnamese citizens are equal before the law. Any citizen, regardless of who they are, what their profession or position, if they violate the law, must be strictly dealt with according to the law.

The Vietnamese State always respects and protects basic human freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet and social networks. In exercising their rights and obligations, each citizen must put the collective, national and ethnic interests first, clearly demonstrating the spirit of "Rule of Law", for the purity of the press environment, the Internet environment and social networks; for the peace of society and the development of the country. Vietnam resolutely handles all acts that go against that spirit, violate the provisions of the law on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet and social networks. In Vietnam, no citizen has been punished for exercising the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet and social networks in accordance with the law.

The UNWGAD and some overseas media agencies' claims that Vietnam's arrest of Pham Thi Doan Trang was "arbitrary" and "blatantly violated freedom of speech"... are essentially a trick of "evading and deceiving" to cover up and cover up for those who violate the law and sabotage Vietnam. The UNWGAD and some unfriendly overseas media agencies' call for the government to immediately and unconditionally release Pham Thi Doan Trang is absurd, blatantly and brutally interfering in internal affairs; contrary to international conventions and violating Vietnamese law./.