US lawmaker calls for release of Vietnamese political prisoner

A top U.S. lawmaker has pledged to work with rights groups as a special advocate for Dang Dinh Bach, a Vietnamese climate activist and political prisoner, and called on Hanoi to immediately release Bach from jail.

Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, announced that he will advocate for Bach through the Defending Freedoms Project, part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, according to a statement exclusively obtained by VOA Mandarin Service.

“Vietnam’s communist government maintains its clutch on power by crusading hard against good faith dissenters like Dang Dinh Bach, breaching the fundamental political, social and civil rights of their people,” Raskin said in the statement.

“Mr. Bach’s continued unjust detainment is an affront to global human rights law and climate activism around the world, and I am honored to sponsor his case through the Lantos Commission’s Defending Freedom Project. Mr. Bach should be released immediately,” Raskin said.

VOA asked the Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. for comment about Bach’s case but has not received a response.

Bach is an environmental lawyer and co-founder and former executive director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center. The LPSD is a Vietnamese nonprofit organization that works with local communities to protect the environment and promote human rights.

Bach was arrested in 2021 and convicted of tax evasion a year later. He was allowed to meet with his lawyers only 10 days prior to the trial and is serving a five-year sentence at a prison in Vietnam’s Nghe An Province. Human rights advocates call the tax invasion charge fraudulent. Authorities shut down LPSD after Bach’s arrest.

The Defending Freedoms Project was launched in 2012 in collaboration with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Amnesty International USA. It has since expanded to include Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, Freedom Now, Scholars at Risk, PEN America and the Senate Human Rights Caucus.

According to DFP, members of Congress sponsoring a prisoner receive a detailed toolkit for advocacy, which includes writing letters to prisoners and their families, giving speeches and publishing op-eds. They can also initiate legislative actions, hold discussions or hearings and petition executive departments such as the State Department and the White House for support.

By taking on a case, lawmakers can help secure releases, reduce sentences, improve prison conditions and raise awareness of unjust laws.

In Vietnam, more than 160 political prisoners are in jail, according to Human Rights Watch.

Bach is one of several climate activists imprisoned in Vietnam after advocating for the country’s move away from coal-based energy. His case has received widespread attention from human rights groups and environment groups.

“Dang Dinh Bach is a dedicated rights defender focused on climate issues, currently serving a five-year prison sentence in Vietnam on dubious charges of ‘tax evasion,’” said Kat Cosgrove, deputy director of policy and advocacy at Freedom House.

“Since 2021, Vietnamese authorities have frequently used this charge to target and silence local activists, and these charges appear aimed solely at stopping Mr. Bach’s vital work and weakening civil society,” she said.

Maureen Harris, senior adviser for International Rivers and coordinator of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, called on the international community to speak out for Bach.

“Environmental human rights defenders like Bach are critical to the battle against climate change. Vietnam’s government should stop persecuting climate leaders. I hope that the international community stands up for Bach and calls on the Vietnamese government to end his wrongful incarceration,” she said.

The U.S. State Department, the European Union and the United Nations have previously issued statements calling not only for Bach’s release but other climate activists wrongfully imprisoned in Vietnam.

In May 2023, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion finding Bach’s imprisonment in “violation of international law.”

The group called for his immediate release and expressed concern about a “systemic problem with arbitrary detention” of environmental defenders in Vietnam.