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Year: 2022

Rail freight service between China and North Korea to resume in days

Editor05 mins

Rail freight shipments between the northern Chinese city Dandong and North Korea’s Sinuiju will resume next week, providing a vital lifeline of goods to the pariah state, North Korean sources said.  “Starting around Aug. 8 or 9, the international freight train between Sinuiju and Dandong will resume its operation,” an official from a trading organization in North Pyongan province told RFA on Thursday.  “There has been an order from the Central Committee for all trading companies to prepare import and export materials to load,” he said, referring to the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea. North Korean authorities proposed the resumption of service to the Chinese government because the country faces economic difficulties due to a serious shortage of supplies, he said. North Korea is dependent on trade and aid from China, its main ally and trading partner. Restrictions on the flow of goods from the country during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns devastated North Korea’s already chronically unstable economy. Freight train service between Sinuiju and Dandong, the hub of North Korea-China trade, was halted in August 2020 because of the pandemic. It resumed on Jan. 16, but was closed by the Chinese again on April 25 after outbreaks in both countries.  Maritime trade with North Korea was also halted at that time but was partially resumed in mid-July after repeated requests from authorities in North Korea.  Trading company representatives, including ones from firms in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, are stationed in Sinuiju, which sits across the international border of the Yalu River from Dandong, the source in North Pyongan said.   “They have been ordering goods from their Chinese counterparts to import construction materials and basic food. They are trying to secure foreign currency to pay for the imports,” he said. A North Korean source in Dandong, with knowledge of the situation, also told RFA on Thursday that the Dandong-Sinuiju freight train service was about to resume. “Since yesterday, a Dandong-based logistics company has been recruiting truck drivers to transport goods to the Dandong freight station and manpower to load goods on the freight train in preparation for the resumption of Dandong-Sinuiju freight train operations,” he said. The logistics company must collect basic food such as sugar and flour, iron products, and construction materials ordered from North Korea from all over China and transport them to Dandong freight station, said the source, who declined to be named so as to speak freely. Additionally, Dandong quarantine authorities will directly manage the freight station and the trains that return to China after transporting goods to North Korea, he said.  Chinese workers who load and unload goods on freight trains in Dandong must have received COVID-19 vaccinations, the source added. Workers will be tested daily for the virus and can continue on the job if their results are negative. The freight train will operate 15 to 17 cars at a time and will go directly to the Uiju quarantine facility, formerly the Uiju Airfield, near North Korea’s northern border with China, the source said. Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee for RFA Korean. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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A son rises in the East

Editor01 mins

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has removed legal hurdles to elevating his son as his successor with constitutional amendments that circumvent parliamentary powers over high-level appointments. Hun Sen, 69, has ruled the country since 1985, and has been grooming his West Point-educated son Hun Manet, 44, as his replacement.

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Hundreds killed, thousands forced to flee since coup in Myanmar Tanintharyi region

Editor07 mins

At least 214 civilians have been killed and 89 injured in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region in the 18 months since the country’s military seized power in a coup, according to local research group Southern Monitor. The group said in a statement on Thursday that since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, at least 17,415 people in Tanintharyi – the home region of junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s parents – were forced to flee their homes, while 93 homes were destroyed in arson attacks over the same period. The dead included those killed by junta troops as well as victims of retribution attacks by the armed opposition for their alleged role as informants for the military regime, it said. Southern Monitor’s information officer told RFA Burmese that the number of civilian deaths in Tanintharyi has risen sharply since the beginning of 2022, with the months of April and June being the deadliest. “Violent incidents in Tanintharyi region have increased significantly in 2022. People died in an increasing number of battles as well as in bombings and landmine incidents,” said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Another worrying trend is the killing of civilians. It can be said that killings by both sides have increased quite a bit.” He said most of the assassinations and civilian deaths occurred in Tanintharyi’s townships of Launglon and Yebyu. At least 93 houses were razed in Tanintharyi since the coup, according to Southern Monitor – 33 in Palaw township, 30 in Thayetchaung township, 18 in Tanintharyi township, six in Dawei township, three in Yebyu township, two in Launglon township, and one in Myeik township. A spokesman for the anti-junta Democracy Action Strike Committee (Dawei) told RFA that most of the fires were started by the junta troops and pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia fighters raiding villages. “A military column would come and a battle with PDFs would occur. When [the military] couldn’t proceed any further, they’d set fire to a nearby house,” said the spokesman, who also declined to be named, citing security concerns. In Launglon, they just set fire to the houses, even though there were no clashes. One of the houses burnt down was owned by a former Dawei District Protest Committee member. At the time of the incident, he was a member of the committee. There were also cases when the Pyu Saw Htee and the military came together and just burned down a house for no reason.” According to the Dawei Political Prisoners Network, as of April 29, there were 221 political prisoners in detention in Tanintharyi, two of whom have been sentenced to death by the junta. Military crackdown Residents of the region told RFA that the armed resistance in Tanintharyi started in earnest in August 2021 in response to the military’s violent crackdowns on civilians. A spokesman for the Palaw Township People’s Defense Force said most of the fighting in Tanintharyi region, up until recently, had been caused by military clearance operations. He claimed that the armed resistance was not responsible for starting any clashes. “The fighting we have here began when they entered the area,” said the spokesman, who also asked to remain anonymous. “We’re not in a position to attack them yet because we are still in a state of preparation. The PDF has not launched any offensives, except one.” According to the list compiled by Southern Monitor, from June 2021 to July 2022, there were 133 battles and at least 141 attacks using landmines. Most of the attacks took place in the townships of Dawei, Launglon, Thayetchaung, Palaw and Tanintharyi. Attempts by RFA to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the violence in Tanintharyi went unanswered Thursday. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced Wednesday that the number of people displaced by violence in Myanmar had ballooned to 866,000 from 346,000 prior to the coup. It said most of the refugees are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, but the junta has yet to announce any plans to address the problem. Written by Joshua Lipes.

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Refugee camps short of food, medicine in Myanmar’s Kayah state

Editor06 mins

Villagers displaced by fighting in Myanmar’s war-torn Kayah state are running short of badly needed food and medicine, with children and the elderly hardest hit in the camps set up to shelter them, sources in the region say. Children are now suffering from dengue fever and diarrhea in the eastern part of Kayah’s Loikaw township, where around 4,000 refugees now live in IDP camps, a relief worker at one camp, told RFA on Friday. “The main problem we are facing here now is the shortage of medicine,” the worker named Aung Naing said. “In another nearby camp, there is the flu. That is very common. And then there are the gastroenteritis cases,” he added. “We are now seeing slight changes in the symptoms, with kids showing traces of blood in their vomit. There’s a lot of that happening,” Aung Naing said. Elderly refugees also lack medicine for high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems, and painkillers, saline water and medicines for fevers are now urgently needed in the camps, he said. Shipments of medicine are now restricted in Kayah state, where People’s Defense Forces are clashing with forces of the military junta that overthrew civilian rule in Myanmar in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup, a spokesman for the Karenni Human Rights Group said. The prices of medicine have also risen in local markets because of shortages, the spokesman named Banya said. “We have absolutely no ability to produce medicine here, and we have to buy mainly from outside. The prices here have more than doubled, and there is only a trickle of international aid,” he said. The UN refugee agency and World Food Program provide assistance to the camps mainly for food, with no help given for medical needs, he said. “Many people in the camps have been living here for months or even years, and they are becoming weak,” Banya said. “There is no proper health care for pregnant women and young mothers, and refugees are facing even more health challenges because they have no access to vaccines.” Refugees in ‘a very bad situation’ A spokesman for the Progressive Karenni People’s Force, which also helps war refugees, said that at least six people have died in the camps where the group works due to shortages of medicine and food. “Medicines are badly needed, and there has recently been a shortage of rice and dried rations. Some of the refugees are in a very bad situation,” the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “We have seen people die in some IDP camps because they didn’t have enough medicine. And because transportation has been restricted on the roads, it is also hard now to move from place to place or provide comprehensive health care,” he said. Many in the camps now survive only by eating edible leaves and roots found in surrounding forests, the spokesman added. In an Aug. 3 statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is facing difficulties in providing food and medicine to war victims in Myanmar because of restrictions imposed by the country’s military. Calls seeking comment from Myanmar military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the junta spokesman for Kayah state rang unanswered on Friday. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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China ends live-fire missile testing near Taiwan early amid protests from Japan, US

Editor09 mins

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) appeared to have ended live-fire missile tests around Taiwan after just a few hours, amid international criticism and disappointment on domestic social media on Friday. The missile tests were part of an intensive round of PLA military exercises around Taiwan scheduled from Aug. 4-7, and their conclusion was viewed by online Little Pink nationalist commentators as disappointing. The drills and incursions by Chinese ships and planes into Taiwan’s waters are continuing, however. “Does this mean they won’t fire any more over the next couple of days?” wrote @Fengyun_is_back, while others quipped that the army is done “frying fish,” a slang reference to saber-rattling directed at Taiwan. “Did they only have so many missiles, and did they fire them all at once?” one user commented. Current affairs commentator Zhao Qing said he was surprised that the PLA had announced an end to missile tests, in a move that appeared hasty. “It lasted just two hours and 22 minutes from the launch of the PLA’s first missile,” Zhao said. “I was really surprised by how short that was. I thought the live-fire missile launches would go on for 10 hours or more.” “That was really unexpected. Five more missiles missed [their targets] and landed in Japanese waters, and they stopped the exercise after Japan protested,” Zhao said. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said five of the PLA’s ballistic missiles landed in Japan’s territorial waters from between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time on Aug. 4. The Rocket Force under the Eastern Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducts conventional missile tests into the waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan, from an undisclosed location in this August 4, 2022 handout released on August 5, 2022. Credit: Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via Reuters Some blockades lifted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday condemned the missile launches, calling it “a serious issue that affects our national security and the safety of our citizens.” “China’s actions … have had a serious impact on the peace and stability of our region and the international community,” he told reporters after having breakfast with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I told her that we have called on [China] to immediately cancel the military exercises.” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded that China and Japan have never formally delimited the maritime area in question, so the missiles couldn’t be said to have landed in Japanese waters. Meanwhile, blockades have apparently been lifted in at least three of the six maritime areas used for military exercises, Zhao said. “Only the Chinese coastal waters to the west of Taiwan remain blocked,” he said, citing a shipping tracker. “The eastern side of the island is open to shipping, with military exercises completed on that side.” “The shipping tracker website shows no information about any military warnings, and the ships are sailing there as normal,” Zhao said. A current affairs commentator surnamed Li said the abrupt end to the missile firings suggested something had gone wrong. “Their exercise plan was likely made a long time beforehand,” Li said. “The exercise was announced as three days in length, but it only took three hours.” “There must be external factors in play [possibly because] the exercise was exposing them, because U.S. military intelligence collection capabilities are very strong,” he said. “For example [they may now know about] their launch technology, performance and technical parameters of those missiles, meaning they would be making fools of themselves by firing them,” Li said. ‘Major escalation’ Reports have also emerged of a personnel change on the first day of the military exercises around Taiwan. A report on a government website in the eastern city of Ningbo said a local official had met with Wang Zhongcai, deputy commander and naval commander of the PLA’s Eastern Theater. That post had previously been reported in the state-backed news site The Paper as being held by Mei Wen. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Phnom Penh on Friday that China’s launch of missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone represented a “major escalation” of the situation. He said the situation had led to a “vigorous communication” during East Asia Summit meetings in the Cambodian capital. “[I said that] they should not use the visit as a pretext for war, escalation, for provocative actions, that there is no possible justification for what they’ve done,” Blinken said, adding that he had also called for an end to the military action in and around the Taiwan Strait. A military scholar who gave only the surname Li said the five missiles that landed in Japanese waters had exposed weaknesses in the PLA’s missile launch technology. “Their missile technology is relatively outdated, as it relies on a U.S.-made civilian GPS positioning technology for guidance,” Li said. “The Dongfang-15 was … developed for use against the former Soviet Union, with very similar technology to that of the U.S. at the time,” he said. “[Their] more recently developed missiles could have been even more inaccurate.” Yang Haiying, a professor at Shizuoka University in Japan, said the Japanese government has lodged a strong protest with China and canceled a planned meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers. “This year was supposed to see celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the normalization of relations between China and Japan, but those five missiles have made it impossible to celebrate,” Yang told RFA. “There is no way of knowing now if the missiles’ targeting was intentional or not,” he said.  Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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‘We never expected that after all that, there would be such a cruel outcome’

Editor04 mins

The daughter of an outspoken Chinese poet who called on ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping to step down has hit out at an “unjust and cruel” prison sentence handed down to her father. Zhang Yiran, currently living in the United States, made a short video outlining the details of her father’s case. “Hi everyone. I’m Zhang Yiran, Lu Yang’s daughter,” she said. “My father was sentenced to the cruel punishment of six years’ imprisonment for posting a video to social media calling on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to step down.” “He was taken away by police on May 1, 2020, and tried in secret on Sept. 15, 2020 by the Liaocheng Intermediate People’s Court on charges of ‘incitement to subvert state power’,” Zhang said, adding that he was then held for a further two years and three months at the Liaocheng Detention Center, while his family waited and waited for news of the outcome. In China’s criminal justice system, sentencing is usually announced within six weeks of a trial’s conclusion. “Recently, on July 26, 2022, he was sentenced in secret to six years’ imprisonment and three years’ deprivation of political rights,” Zhang said. “The sentence was communicated verbally to my mother by the court, which refused to give her the court judgment, saying they contained state secrets.” They also told her at that time that Lu had said he wanted to appeal, she said. “This is an unfair, unjust and cruel sentence, and I, my mother, and my grandmother, who is bed-bound with illness and in her nineties, waited and suffered for two years to hear it,” Zhang said. “We never expected that after all that, there would be such a cruel outcome.” She said her mother had hired a lawyer from the Haiyang Law Firm in Shandong to prepare the case for appeal at the Shandong Provincial High Court. “I urge all people of conscience to support my father, and call on the Chinese authorities to undo this injustice and give him back his rights,” Zhang said. Zhang Guiqi, 49, who is widely known by his penname Lu Yang, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which came after he posted a video of himself calling on Xi to step down, and calling for “an end to the CCP dictatorship.” Lu Yang was among a group of rights activists who went to the Shandong Jianzhu University in January 2017 to support a former professor there, Deng Xiangchao, who was targeted by Maoist protesters after he retweeted a post satirizing late supreme leader Mao Zedong. The Shandong authorities terminated Deng’s teaching contract after the incident, while Maoist flash mobs attacked Deng’s supporters at the scene, including Yang. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Five militia members killed in accidental mine explosion

Editor02 mins

A hand-made mine exploded as it was being planted, killing five members of the Wetlet Township People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Sagaing region, according to a militia member who declined to be named for security reasons, The PDF member said the blast happened on Thursday beside the Mandalay-Shwe Bo road. They were planning to use it against junta troops traveling along the road. “Six people planted the mine but five of them died and one was injured,” he said. “We cremated them yesterday. We are giving medical treatment to the one who is injured.” The PDF member added that his group relies on hand-made mines due to a lack of weaponry. The names and ages of the five dead men are not yet known. RFA has not been able to confirm the incident, and the military council has not released any statement on it. A lack of weapons is slowing the efforts of PDFs in Sagaing region to fight back against junta forces by using mine attacks and ambushes. General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the Military Council, said in a speech on Monday that a total of 3,483 civilians, including monks, government employees and administrative officials have been killed by PDFs during the 18 months since the military coup. Data from the Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) show that, as of Thursday, 2,157 anti-coup democracy activists and civilians had been killed and 11,894 people arrested by the police and the military forces.

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Protests in China against the Bank Run

Over 450 protests in China: No coverage in mainstream media

Editor47 mins

The number of people’s protests in China is rising alarmingly. Yet, there is little to no coverage in the mainstream media of these protests. China has a massive influence on media houses around the world. Investigative Journalism Reportika presents an in-depth investigative report compiled by our East Asia analyst Jenny Kin Jacobs on “The rising people’s protests in China”.

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USS Ronald Reagan strike group monitoring China’s military exercises off Taiwan

Editor011 mins

The U.S. is keeping a close watch on China’s military drills around Taiwan and may take further action, with the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group remaining on station to monitor the situation, the U.S. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said late Thursday. On Friday, day two of the three-day military exercise held in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched “multiple” military aircraft and warships to the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement. Some of the aircraft and vessels crossed the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added, calling the PLA drills “highly provocative” and vowing to “respond appropriately.” Before that, the defense ministry said the Chinese military also flew four drones over Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen on Thursday night. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said China firing missiles near busy international air and sea routes around Taiwan on Thursday was “an irresponsible act” and called on Beijing “to act with reason and exercise restraint.”  An F/A-18E Super Hornet prepares to launch on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea, Aug. 4, 2022. CREDIT: U.S. Navy U.S “will take further steps” China has decided to sanction U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family for her stopover in Taiwan earlier this week, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday. Pelosi is the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. “They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there,” news agencies quoted the U.S. House Speaker as saying on Friday in Tokyo, the final leg of her Asia tour. The U.S. National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said at a press briefing on Thursday that the Biden administration condemns China’s actions. “China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” he said, adding: “We also expect that these actions will continue and that the Chinese will continue to react in coming days.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group to “remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation,” Kirby said. The carrier strike group is currently in the Philippines Sea and two big deck amphibious ships, USS Tripoli and USS America, are on their way to the east of Taiwan, the U.S. Naval Institute reported. Besides conducting “standard” air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks, the U.S. “will take further steps to demonstrate our commitment to the security of our allies in the region” including Japan, the National Security spokesperson said. Washington, however, postponed a long-planned test of an Air Force Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.  The U.S. military seems to have expanded aerial ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) operations around Taiwan on Friday, a Beijing-based think-tank that has been tracking regional military movements said. The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said it has spotted at least seven U.S. reconnaissance aircraft, supported by six military aerial refueling aircraft KC-135 in the area. An MH-60R anti-submarine Seahawk helicopter was also seen flying close to the southwest of Taiwan before moving north towards Japan’s Okinawa island, according to data provided by the flight tracking website Flightradar 24. A map showing where Chinese missiles are believed to have landed in Taiwan’s waters and Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. CREDIT: Japanese Defense Ministry Japan’s concerns On Friday morning, about 10 Chinese navy ships and 20 military aircraft “briefly crossed” the median line – the tacit maritime border between Taiwan and China’s mainland – Reuters quoted an anonymous source close to the matter as saying. China’s state media meanwhile said that the PLA “has sent an aircraft carrier group featuring at least one nuclear-powered submarine to the ongoing drills” around Taiwan for its first carrier deterrence exercise. The Global Times quoted Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the Naval Research Academy which is affiliated with the PLA, who said on Thursday at least one nuclear-powered submarine has been deployed. Zhang did not name the aircraft carrier. China has two carriers in operation – the Liaoning and the Shandong. The third aircraft carrier, Fujian, is near completion.  Taiwanese media reported that the two operating aircraft carriers have left their home ports of Qingdao in Shandong province, and Sanya in Hainan province, but this information cannot be independently verified. On Thursday Japan said it had lodged a diplomatic protest after five ballistic missiles fired by China appear to have landed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which stretches 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the outer limits of Japan’s territorial seas. “To have five Chinese missiles fall within Japan’s EEZ like this is a first,” Japanese defense minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters. Japan’s Ministry of Defense provided a detailed report of the Chinese missile launches and a map showing the missiles’ projected routes. It appears that four missiles, launched from mainland China, flew over Taiwan’s capital, Taipei. “This is the second time that Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan’s main island, the previous time was in 1996,” said Shen Ming-Shih, acting deputy chief executive officer at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government think-tank. That time, Chinese missile tests and live-fire exercises led to the U.S. intervention in the so-called Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.  This time, an American involvement is yet to be seen but on Wednesday the U.S., together with six other developed countries, including Japan and the European Union, released a G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the situation in the Taiwan Strait. The G7 countries expressed their concerns over “threatening actions” by China which risk “increasing tensions and destabilizing the region.” China responded by canceling a pre-scheduled meeting on Thursday afternoon between its foreign minister Wang Yi and his Japanese…

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Three Hanoi-based activists appeal their sentences this month

Editor05 mins

The Higher People’s Court in the Vietnamese capital plans to hear appeals from three famous activists: blogger Le Van Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova, and land rights activists Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam. Independent journalist Le Van Dung’s hearing will be on August 16. The next day the court will rule on Trinh and Nguyen’s sentences. Dung, 52, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years’ probation for “conducting anti-state propaganda.” He was accused of “making and uploading on social media 12 clips with propaganda content against the State, defaming the government, spreading fabricated news, causing confusion among the people and insulting the honor and reputation of leaders of the Party and State,” between March 2017 and September 2018. Dung did not deny posting the clips but said they told the truth. He protested his innocence under the Vietnamese Constitution and international human rights conventions that Vietnam has signed Dung’s wife, Bui Thi Hue, told RFA she hoped the appeal court would release her husband. Trinh Ba Phuong, 37, and Nguyen Thi Tam, 50, were both arrested on June 24, 2020 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda.” Phuong’s mother, Can Thi Theu, and his younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, were arrested on the same day after complaining on social media about a police raid on land rights protesters from Dong Tam commune where they lived. Three policemen died in clashes with locals and commune leader Le Dinh Kinh, who was leading the land petitioners, was killed by the police. Theu and her son,  Trinh Ba Tu, were both sentenced to eight years in prison and three years of house arrest. In December the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Phuong to 10 years in prison and five years of probation. Tam was sentenced to six years in prison and three years of probation. This is not Tam’s first conviction. She was imprisoned twice for fighting against land expropriation by the Duong Noi commune government. In 2008 she was charged with “disturbing public order” and in 2014 she was convicted for “resisting public officials.” Phuong’s wife, Do Thi Thu, told RFA she was extremely dissatisfied with the original trial. “My husband and our family only spoke the truth about the land and the truth about the people of Dong Tam, yet they sentenced my husband to 10 years in prison and my mother-in-law and brother-in-law were imprisoned for eight years.” “This judgment is absurd. I have no hope for the upcoming appeal hearing. I also do not expect the court to reduce my husband’s sentence.” “I just hope that this communist dictatorship will soon collapse so the Vietnamese people will suffer less and have more freedom and then my husband and other prisoners will be freed.” During the original trial, Phuong accused Hanoi police investigators of torturing him many times during the interrogation, hitting his genitals, causing him great pain. Theu and her two sons won awards from the Vietnam Human Rights Network last year. The U.S.-based organization recognizes activists and organizations in Vietnam “who have made their mark in the inexorable march towards freedom, human rights and democracy of the Vietnamese people.”

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0