| Reference id | aka Wikileaks id #75819 ? |
| Subject | Paltalk/8406 Bloc Activist Detained Again |
| Origin | Consulate Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) |
| Cable time | Wed, 23 Aug 2006 03:42 UTC |
| Classification | CONFIDENTIAL |
| Source | http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/08/06HOCHIMINHCITY936.html |
| References | 06HOCHIMINHCITY436, 06HOCHIMINHCITY925 |
| Referenced by | 06HOCHIMINHCITY1003, 06HOCHIMINHCITY1009, 06HOCHIMINHCITY1012, 06HOCHIMINHCITY1090,06HOCHIMINHCITY999 |
| History |
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FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1329
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0930
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0022
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0005
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1397
Hide header
C O N F I D E N T I A L HO CHI MINH CITY 000936
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/22/16
TAGS: PGOV [Internal Governmental Affairs], PINR [Intelligence], PREL [External Political Relations], PHUM [Human Rights], VM [Vietnam]
SUBJECT: PALTALK/8406 BLOC ACTIVIST DETAINED AGAIN
REF: A) HCMC 925; B) HCMC 436 AND PREVIOUS
CLASSIFIED BY: Robert Silberstein, Political Officer, ConGen
HCMC, State Department.
REASON: 1.4 (d)
CLASSIFIED BY: Seth Winnick, Consul General REASON: 1.4 (d)
¶1. (C) On the night of August 18, plainclothes police detained
Truong Quoc Huy and his brother Trung Quoc Tuan at an internet
cafe in HCMC. (Per reftels, Huy is a member of the "8406 bloc"
dissident group and one of three individuals held by police for
nine months in the "PalTalk" Internet chatroom case.) Nguyen
Thu Tram, another 8406 Bloc member, was also at the internet
cafe, but was not detained. At the time of his detention, Huy
was accessing PalTalk. Tram told us that she and Huy were not
communicating, only listening, and that Huy's brother Tuan had
not been using the Internet. Tuan was released after six hours
detention, but Huy was remanded into police custody.
¶2. (C) On August 21, we spoke with Chau Thi Hoang, Huy's mother,
who told us that the police had read her Huy's arrest warrant,
stating that he violated Article 79 of the Vietnamese Penal Code
for "attempting to overthrow the People's Government." Huy's
mother said that police briefly brought her son home to gather
his clothes and belongings for a lengthy detention. At that
time, police also searched the house and confiscated a digital
camera that was a "gift form Huy's friend who lives in India.
(Note: this is an apparent reference to the leader of the Bach
Dang Giang Foundation, Pham Ba Hai. Per ref A, the Foundation
is planning a series of protests in Vietnam to coincide with the
APEC leaders' summit in November. End note.) Police also
confiscated two desktop computers and conducted a thorough
search of the home for a laptop computer that Huy was supposed
to have received from yet another Bloc member.
¶3. (C) Huy's mother confirmed that from the time of his release
on July 8 until this arrest, Huy had been in regular contact
with political activists Do Nam Hai and Le Tri Tue. After his
July release, Huy himself reported to us that police had placed
him under travel restrictions and had threatened to prosecute
him again should he continue his political activism. Huy's
mother reported that Hai and Tue had advised her to hire an
attorney and had suggested that they would provide financial
support. Police have refused to provide her with additional
information on the condition of her son despite repeated phone
calls.
WINNICK
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