The first year of the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership visualized

Next week marks one year since the U.S. and Vietnam elevated diplomatic relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In a timeline below, Project88 reflects on major human rights events during the first year of the upgrade, including the revelation of Directive 24, the arrest of key labor reformers, the attempted extradition of Montagnard activist Y Quynh Bdap from Thailand, and the secret trial of energy policy expert Ngo Thi To Nhien. Over the year, Vietnam also arrested or convicted at least 48 dissidents and activists — at a rate of almost one per week. We invite you to explore the data below. 

***

 

 

Vietnam arrested or convicted at least 48 dissidents and activists in the 52 weeks since the CSP began, including:

• • Four policy activists and government reformers
  • Six bloggers and journalists
  • Fifteen ethnic minority activists

Half of people were charged under Article 331 for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Article 331, an article
criminalizing criticism of the government and public figures, first overtook Article 117, an article dealing
with national security crimes, as the most common charge in 2021. Article 331 carries a shorter maximum prison sentence but is widely considered by observers to be a catch-all used to convict dissidents that cannot be persuasively tried under national security provisions that tend to be reserved for anti-state activists.

After Article 331, the second most common charge was 117 (“making, storing, spreading, or propagating information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam”). Other charges included Articles 116, 157, 200, 337, and 342. The latter three deal with tax evasion and misappropriation and disclosure of government documents, respectively, and were levied against the four government reformers and policy activists.

 

The vast majority of those arrested since the CSP began faced between five and eight months in pre-trial detention. The average time spent in pre-trial detention for the period was 6.25 months.

At least 20 people arrested since September 2023 are still in pre-trial detention.

 

Over half of people convicted in the period were sentenced to more than four years in prison. The average prison sentence was five years.

 

© 2024 The 88 Project