Update on Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, November 25, 2018: Poisoning and Mental Torture in Prison
The 88 Project, November 25, 2018: On November 24, 2018, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc’s family visited him in Prison no. 6, Nghe An province, as scheduled monthly. Thuc revealed that on November 20, he suffered many signs of being poisoned. At 5:15 AM, when Thuc woke up, he felt dizzy, and sweated a lot and regurgitated water with some blood fiber. He checked his blood pressure, which had increased up to 150/110.
As he rested, he regurgitated yellow and green liquid, causing him serious dizziness. Medical staff of the detention center examined and gave him two pills after diagnosing him with “cerebral blood flow deficiency”. However, these pills were also immediately regurgitated.
At 7:00 AM, his blood pressure became normal and he was able to have breakfast and lunch. He remained very tired for the whole day. His health became normal again the following day.
However, since that day, he does not want to eat the food that the detention center provides, and uses instant noodles instead, as he does not feel safe. Seeing that he was eating instant noodles, the detention center then no longer provided boiling water for him, as they did before.
The prison authorities’ attitude towards him has also shifted dramatically, and they have now made things more difficult for him, contrary to some positive changes that had occurred earlier this year. In responding to Thuc’s protests and requests to cite the law that constituted the basis of their actions, the prison staff now merely answered: “the leadership has so decided, there’s no need for legal basis at all.”
The prison authorities no longer allow Thuc to receive letters, nor send his letter by the express mail service. They also announced that they were considering banning him from using boiling water, a flashlight, a sphygmomanometer, or a glucose meter. When Thuc asked for the legal basis, they did not reply.
At the last minutes of the meeting, Thuc asked people, including friends in the international community and lawyers, to urgently intervene to help end the dangerous situation, which involves the possibility of poisoning, that he finds himself in.
This information was in accordance with what a foreign diplomat had informed lawyer Le Cong Dinh last week, that the Vietnamese authorities are using mental torture to force Thuc to confess guilt in order to be released and stay inside the country, as Thuc refuses to be exiled.
Source: Lawyer Le Cong Dinh
Translation by The 88 Project
