HRW calls for the “immediate” release of Vietnamese journalist Huy Duc, accused of “abusing democracy”

June 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the Vietnamese authorities this Friday to “immediately” release the journalist Huy Duc, detained since June 1 for “abusing democracy to attack the State”, and has demanded to drop “all” charges against him.

The organization has denounced in a statement the “unjust” detention of this blogger and writer, who was arrested earlier this month accused of “abusing the rights to democracy and freedom to attack the interests of the State”, under of Article 331 of the Penal Code, a law that, according to HRW, authorities frequently use against critics of the Government.

“By unjustly detaining Huy Duc, Vietnamese authorities are targeting one of the country’s bravest and most influential journalists,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The organization has also asked international donors and trade partners of the Asian country to denounce this arrest “as a flagrant attack on freedom of expression” and to urge his immediate release.

According to HRW, the journalist has been deprived of contact with his lawyer and his family since his arrest, a fact that the Hanoi Police did not notify his relatives until seven days later, “supposing his forced disappearance and raising concern for his safety.” “.

The NGO has denounced that the Vietnamese authorities have been carrying out a campaign of repression for months against “all those (…) who have criticized the Government or asked for reforms” and have warned that the Government “is moving further and further away from democracy and the rule of law”.

“Punishing Huy Duc for exposing the misuse of state power and corruption should raise concerns among those who hope for economic and political reforms in Vietnam in the near future,” Gossman said.

Shortly before his arrest, the blogger warned on his Facebook account – where he has more than 350,000 followers – of the “countless dangers” entailed by the concentration of power in the “notoriously repressive” Ministry of Public Security, which To Lam, the new president of Vietnam, led in the past.

Recently, the 62-year-old journalist was arrested after on the aforementioned social network he criticized the anti-corruption campaign led by the leadership of the Communist Party that last May ended with Vo Van Thuong, who was forced to resign from his position, and the appointment of To Lam as new president.