FIFTY YEARS of VIOLATIONS of Human Rights in Communist Vietnam 1945-1995

Statistics on Deaths at Camps

Witnesses reported cases of execution and death of the military and civilian personnel of the old Republic of South Vietnam at camps and political prisoners after the Communist takeover of South Vietnam. The Vietnamese Federation of Veteran Political Prisoners (1995) has compiled 718 cases of executions and deaths at camp. Although the causes of death were not specified, in most cases, statistics show: 165 (22.98%) of 718 prisoners were reportedly executed at camp; 72 (10%) died as a result of hard labor and lack of medical treatment or of cold and starvation; 31 (4.31%) committed suicide; 33 (4.59%) were murdered or tortured to death; and 24 (3.62%) died soon after release from camp.

Among those prisoners who died for unspecified reasons were Prof. Vo Van Hai; Trinh Quoc Khanh, dignitary of Hoa Hao Buddhism; Sen. Tran The Minh; Ta Nguyen Minh, Leader of the Dai Viet Quoc Gia Xa Hoi (Greater Vietnam National Social Party); Phan Ba Cam, Secretary General of the Vietnam Dan Xa Dang (Vietnam Democratic Social Party); Congressman Bui Minh Nghia; Lieutenant General Lam Thanh Nguyen; Hon. Nguyen Manh Nhu, Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeal; Sen. Son Thai Nguyen; Major General Doan Van Quang; Lawyer Tran Van Tuyen; Catholic Priest Nguyen Quang Minh; Hon. Nguyen Ba Luong, Chairman, the House of Representatives; Hon. Vu Tien Tuan, Presiding Judge of the Supreme Court; Rev. Nguyen Van Thang of the Evangelical Church; Hon. Duong Duc Thuy, Secretary of Justice; and Dinh Van Bien, member of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (Vietnam Koumintang).

Among those prisoners who were executed without trial were Tran Thanh Dinh, member of the Duy Dan Party (Vietnam National Party); Colonel Ho Ngoc Can, Province Chief of Chuong Thien; Le Quang Cho, Village Chief; Doan Van Chau, Rural Restitution Cadre; Lieutenant Colonel Duong, National Police; Captain Dot, Company Commander, Regional Force; Councilman Hieu of Kien Hoa Province; Lawyer Nguyen Van Huyen; Nguyen Van Nghiem, Leader, National Restoration Forces; Vo Van Nghi, Member, National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam; Tran Quang Pho, Civilian; Lieutenant Colonel Le Chon Tinh of Hoa Hao Buddhism; Nguyen Duy Tam, Canton Chief; Master Sergeant Thai Van Ut; Major Nguyen Duc Xich, Deputy Chief of Bien Hoa Province; Pham Hong Ung, Village Chief; First Lieutenant Nguyen Ngoc Thanh; Nguyen Van Sang, Cadre, Open Arm and Information Service; and Vo Thanh Nhon, Village Chief.

Among those prisoners who died as a result of hard labor, lack of medical treatment or of cold and starvation were Colonel Pham Van Son, Historian; Lieutenant Colonel Doan Van Anh; Captain Nguyen Van Chuong; First Lieutenant Le Quy Ky; Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Nam; Nguyen Dang Bai, Vice District Chief; Colonel Chung Van Bong; Lieutenant Colonel Doan Van Anh; First Lieutenant Do Rang Dong; Second Lieutenant Nguyen Tan Hoang; Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Tran Louis; Lieutenant Colonel Ha Hau Sinh; Colonel Le Van Tho; Colonel Lu Phung Van; Hoang Kim Quy, Businessman; Colonel Pham Ngoc Loi; Colonel Pham Nhu Hien; Nguyen Dang Bao, Village Chief; Pham Ngoc Thanh, Administrator; Ngo Ngoc Loi, Government Official; Colonel Dang Quang Tiep; and First Lieutenant Tran Duc Quan.

Among those prisoners who were murdered or tortured to death were Lieutenant Colonel Vo Vang, Regiment Commander, Regiment 911; Nguyen Duc Diep, Sculptor; Minh Ky, Musician; Captain Tien of the Signal Corps; Colonel Dang Van Thanh, Regiment Commander, Infantry Division 21; Captain Tran Van Thang of the National Police; Captain Mao; Le Quang Lac; Major Le Thom; Congressman Dang van Tiep; Doan Van Xuong; Captain Tran Canh Dien; Captain Kha, M.D.; Colonel Dang Van Thanh; Bao Trong, Assistant to the Commander, National Police; Captain Tran Van Thang; Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Thanh; Captain Nguyen Van Tho; Captain Nguyen Duc Tho; Lieutenant Nguyen Hong Viet alias Paul; and Lieutenant Colonel Sam.

Prisons and Camps

There are hundreds of prisons, camps, and sub-camps in each city and province throughout the country. Among the most infamous detention camps and prisons are: Quyet Tien Camp in Hoang Lien Son Province; Thanh Liet (B4) in Ha Son Binh Province; Nam Ha (Ba Sao), in Ha Nam Ninh Province; Thanh Phong (K1, K2), Thanh Lam (K3), Thanh Cam (K4), Thanh Son (K5) in Thanh Hoa Province, Gia Trung, Pleibong (T15) in Lam Dong Province; Xuan Phuoc (A20) in Phu Yen Province; Phu Khanh (A30); Ham Tan (Z30C, Z30D) in Thuan Hai Province, and Chi Hoa and Phan Dang Luu prisons in Saigon.

Not only do former prisons remain in use, but also new ones have been constructed and other buildings transformed to hold the growing number of prisoners. Camp A20 in Xuan Phuoc (Phu Yen Province), for instance, was divided into eight separate sections: one building was demolished to be enlarged. One building was used as a warehouse and clinics. Six remaining sections housed an average of 80 people each, allowing approximately 70 square centimeters per person. Phan Dang Luu prison in Saigon, under the Thieu regime, held 200 prisoners. It now has 2,000 prisoners behind its walls. Prisoners are classified into the most fortunate, the less fortunate, and the least fortunate. The most fortunate are housed in cells built by the French more than 30 years ago, measuring 20 meters long by 5 meters wide, with a ceiling of 6 meters high. The front and back of the cells are fitted with bars allowing the circulation of air. The prisoners have their own water supply. Under the former regime, these cells contained 20-25 prisoners each. Today, 60-70 prisoners are crammed into each cell. There are eight such cells, which form Zone A of the prison. The less fortunate are held in newly constructed zones C1, C2, and B, built in October 1965 by the [Republic of Vietnam] Secret Police. Each cell measures 8 meters in length, 5 meters in width, and 3.50 meters in height. The ceiling is only a sheet of corrugated iron, creating an unbearable temperature. All sides are blocked, and the only air supply for all 30-40 prisoners comes from an air vent in the wall measuring 10 cm x 15 cm. There is no water supply. The least fortunate are thrown into dungeons which measure 2m long, 1m width, and 2 m height. The only air hole measures 10 cm x 15 cm. Prisoners are kept handcuffed with the left foot attached to the left hand. These cells are reserved for new arrivals and for those who have committed some breach in discipline (Washington Area League for Human Rights, 1978: 17).

Dang Chi Binh related how he suffered from the lack of air in a tight cell when he was detained at Hoa Lo prison (Hanoi Hilton):

There are no official statistics on the political prisoner population. Estimates vary from hundred to ten thousand. Veteran political prisoner Nhat Tran reported that there are different measures on criminals and political prisoners. In the South, while being detained for interrogations, criminals are confined in separate cells. Criminals' lives are not respected. However, they are not strictly controlled since they are not politically dangerous to the regime. Officials and officers of the Republic of Vietnam were detained under the surveillance of the Communist troops. Many members of political parties who did not report themselves with the Communist military authorities were arrested, charged on grounds of counterrevolutionaries, and detained under the supervision of the security police. These prisoners were strictly controlled--their thoughts as well as their ways of thinking (Nguyen Tri, 14 (December 1992)).

Political prisoner Pham Van Thanh reported that at A20 Camp, the prisoner population, at present, was 500, including 200 political prisoners. Among these prisoners are: the Reverend Dinh Van Hieu; Nguyen Dac Chuong, Buddhist monks Thich Tue Sy Pham Van Thuong, Le Hien, and Ho Huu Tin; and the Reverend Le Hoan Son. Other personalities are: Nguyen Van De, Caodaist Ho Huu Khanh, and Professor Doan Viet Hoat. There are also overseas Vietnamese: Ly Tong, Tran Manh Quynh (simultaneously transferred with Professor Doan Viet Hoat and seven others), Peter Tran Vu, Vann Nelson Do Huon, Michael Nguyen Van Muon, Do Hang Van, Pham Duc Hau from the United States, Nguyen Ngoc Dang from Canada, Nguyen Nghiep (released with ten other prisoners from Thailand) from Germany, Pierre Pham Anh Dung, Le Hoan Son, and Pham Van Thanh from France. Sixty percent of the political prisoners at Camp A20 were sentenced to 15 years in prison or more (Pham Van Thanh, 1994).

Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Tu, Tran Manh Quynh, and Ly Tong reported from Z30D in Ham Tan that criminals and political prisoners of all backgrounds, including priests and intellectuals, are detained together and bear the same policy regarding daily activities and labor. This is a common practice in almost all prisons. This policy leads to many negative effects and is detrimental to the reeducation of the prisoners. Human dignity, morale, and social behavior are not enhanced but decayed. People of dignity are penalized by acts of violence of cruel criminals. These people are used to the life of the "black society." Since there are too many prisoners, the living space is overcrowded (50 cm x 60 cm per person). The hygiene standard is very low, and personal safety is not guaranteed--theft, fight, robbery (Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Tu, Tran Manh Quynh and Ly Tong, 1994).

Tran Manh Quynh reported that at Camp Z30D (Ham Tan, Binh Thuan) he was put among a group of criminals under strict restriction. This was a group of murderers and thieves sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. All of them were ferocious pirates and notorious cadres of the most dangerous elements of the society, and he was the only political prisoners in the group (Tran Manh Quynh, 1994).

Alimentary Deficiency

Veteran political prisoner Buu Lich reported that after a few months under detention, alimentary deficiency became critical. Camp detainees saw their health alarmingly deteriorating while they were subject to forced hard labor. In the beginning, their monthly food apportions were 18 kgs of rice, but it was gradually reduced to 15 kgs, then to 12 kgs, and then to 8 kgs, and sometimes none. That is, rice was lacking in the ration and was compensated by manioc, sweet potato, flour, or barley. All these foods were of the worst quality. Sweet potatoes were rotten. Rice was moth-eaten, and one cooked it with worms hidden in the rice. The only sauce that went with it was a kind of fish sauce which was, in fact, water with dark salt. The detainee had a right to a small quantity of vegetable a day, a piece of fish of a thumb size a week, and a piece of meat of the same size bi-weekly or even a month. However, meat was too expensive to be replaced by other produce. In the beginning, when the "scraps" left over during the American-created puppet government were not yet exhausted, there was still sugar, and four people shared a small box a month. Fish and meat became a luxury; and they were always saved and boiled over many times to make soup. The craving for sugar was a torture. How could detainees have survived with such a food ration? They survived on their relatives' packages of food after a year under detention (Buu Lich, 1984: 4).

Ho N. reported that at Suoi Mau Camp (Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam), during the years of 1975-76, camp detainees were only fed with decayed rice brought from secret zones in the jungle. That was the kind of rice the Communists stored in caves during the Vietnam War. It floats when soaked in water and is without nutrient (Van Chuong, 10 (June 1992)).

Dinh Phu lamented:

Pham Quoc Bao described how hunger tortured the camp prisoners and how it drove him into insanity:

Each detainee is given only one meal per day that features one bowl of rice with water and salt, and without further supply. This cruel prescription did indeed kill Father Nguyen Quang Minh (Catholic St. Vincent Order). Father Nguyen Luan, Father Nguyen Van Vang, among numerous others. These priests died between 1985 and mid-1986 for their unyielding courage against the authorities of the Ministry for the Interior.

Vo Dai Ton related that the inmates at Thanh Liet camp were classified into categories. Their food rations varied according to their health conditions and whether or not they were honest in their confessions. An inmate who was accorded 47 dong for food and 9 kilograms of rice per month was given a bowl of cooked rice and plain soup from boiled vegetable daily. An inmate who was accorded 60 dong for food and 12 kilograms of rice per month was given more than one bowl of rice, a few blades of vegetable, some soup of boiled vegetable daily, and a mince of meat monthly. An inmate who was accorded 120 dong for food and 15 kilograms of rice per month was given 2 bowls of rice, a few blades of vegetable, some water of boiled vegetable daily, and 2 minces of meat monthly. An inmate who was accorded 180 dong and 15 kilograms of rice per month was given 2 bowls of rice and boiled vegetable daily, and 3 minces of meat monthly (Vo Dai Ton, 1993: 174).

Pham Van Thanh reported from A20 Camp (Xuan Phuoc, Phu Yen Province) that each inmate was allotted a portion of meat of 300 grs (!) monthly. He wrote:

Ta Ty gave a description of how man and animal labored at camp:

Buu Lich related that at Xuan Loc Camp, every day the reeducated went to work in the forest 15 kilometers from the camp to gather firewood. The weight that each of them had to gather was 20 kgs (the middle-sized Vietnamese weighs 45 kgs). With rudimentary tools--saws, billhooks, hatchets made by their own hands--the reeducated experienced much difficulty and were more prone to accidents. One day, a tree trunk fell on a prisoner. Everyone hurried to crowd around him. The cadres remained quite impassive. The reeducated proposed that the victim be taken back to camp, but the proposal was ignored. The victim remained lying there unattended. About five or six hours later, he was transported on the back of his friends. The result was foreseeable: he was dying and expired his last breath on the way back to the camp (Buu Lich, 1986: 7).

Truong Ngoc said:

Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Tu, Tran Manh Quynh, and Ly Tong, in their letter of protest to the Vietnamese Communist leadership on March 1, 1994, denounced that the current form of organized labor and its intensive coercion in the labor camps they have lived through are totally intended for punishment and financial gain. In each camp, the result of prisoner's labor is calculated as if it were in a commercial company. At Nam Ha Camp, prisoners are outright assigned the duty of "making the camp rich." This condition leads to harmful results. Prisoners always have the feeling of being exploited. In addition, the miserable living conditions in the camp further derails the effort to educate the prisoners. They believed that the way labor is organized as well as the living conditions in the camps today fail to achieve the "reeducating" effect it is intended for. Forcing hard labor on the prisoners for financial gains of the camp and contribution to the government's operation budget create a bad image of the country and prison policy. Laboring during the detention only earns its value when it benefits the prisoners. To achieve those purposes, labor must be accompanying vocation, learning to elevate knowledge, and general literacy must be accompanied with a living environment that reflects humanity, civilization, and progress. This requires an overhaul of the policy on labor and education as well as positive improvement on activity in the camp.

Health Care--Medical Treatment

Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Tu, Tran Manh Quynh, and Ly Tong reported:

On August 10, 1994, Jackie Manthorne, executive director of the Canadian Center International PEN, wrote to Hanoi Ambassador Le Van Bang at the United Nations urging the Communist government of Vietnam to release the seriously ill political prisoner Nguyen Van Thuan. According to the director, Nguyen Van Thuan was arrested in 1990 when he returned to Vietnam from Canada to promote democracy. At the age 60 and after serving an 18-year prison sentence in hard labor camps, he suffered a stroke. He was then temporarily returned to the care of his family. However, Vietnam's authority said he would be taken back to prison camp later. Upon the news of Nguyen Van Thuan being returned to Ham Tan labor camp in the last week of September while he was still very ill, PEN Canada, an international association of writers, on October 1, wrote to Raymond Chan (Secretary of State, Asia Pacific, House of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada) urging the Canadian official to intervene for Nguyen Van Thuan's release. Following, in an excerpt of the letter, the organization feared that by returning Nguyen Van Thuan to the labor camp where he suffered his first stroke, his health and perhaps his life, would be placed in extreme jeopardy. There was then no way of knowing whether he would be receiving adequate medical care or forced to perform physical labor.

Illness

According to Buu Lich, illness was the natural consequence of starvation. Besides, inmates usually become ill secondary to exposure to the unhygienic environment in the camp. The most common illnesses were ascites and edema of the extremities due to lack of nutrition, dysentery, diarrhea, and malaria. The camp did not supply any medicine, and the detainees only relied on the medicine they might have brought with them. However, they had register them with the camp office and could only have it every time they needed to use it. They had to apply for it with a written form.

Each camp had a dispensary. Sick detainees had a little better food ration and were excused from work and services. The health personnel obviously had a competence far inferior to the nurses of the old Republic of Vietnam. The following story would give the reader an idea about the professional knowledge of the North Vietnam medical personnel. One member of the medical team trustingly said to his friend: "You have to learn constantly, to quest for progress as Uncle Ho advised. Take me as an example! I am a medical doctor; still, I continue to study. I am attending an in-training cultural course at the 7th grade level(!). Under these situations, the most common illnesses such as influenza and diarrhea might cause death.

Illnesses did not constitute a motive to return the reeducated home. Many sick camp detainees who were at the point of death were returned home. They died after reaching home. There were many reasons to explain these cases of death: hatred and revenge, ineffective administrative formalities for final decision, cadres' authority at camp, their irresponsibilities (Buu Lich, 1984: 6-7).

Punishment

Bruce Stanley of the Associated Press, on September 28, 1994, reported:

It is not necessary to say that such an idea resulted from the propaganda and brainwashing. It aimed at persuading the peasant military of the North that the history of Vietnam began in 1945 or 1975, and South Vietnam broke away from all progress beginning from that date. Born in the 50's and 60's, they had known nothing but the Communist universe of North Vietnam. They thought the way propaganda had taught them. Thus, there was no surprise when a young and naive military of the North thought that South Vietnam was still in the prehistoric stage and that his duty was to educate the people of the South about the most basic rules of hygiene, clothing fineness, and good behavior.

Concerning the beating and torture that lead to death, Buu Lich said he would only cite a case of which he was an witness. That day, in the Camp of Hoc Mon, a reeducated detainee, became delirious out of a high fever, and in a loud voice, provoked the Communist military. He insulted Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Truong Chinh, Pham Van Dong for having invaded the South and engulfed the Vietnamese people into slavery, starvation, and misfortune. He was immediately led to a container. He was beaten up by the crosshead of the gun all night. In the morning, he expired (Buu Lich, 1984: 10-11 ).

Separate Confinement

Vo Dai Ton described how he was under separate confinement at Thanh Liet camp:

Upon seizing power in the South, the Communists said that they would practice a "policy of leniency" towards officials and officers of the old regime. In reality, they treated them as "debtors of blood to the people." They summoned them to "reeducation" camps set up in regions far from the cities. In Saigon, Phan Dang Luu prison became a concentration camp. Thousands of political prisoners, arbitrarily labeled as "reactionaries," were arrested and confined without trials.

Being accused of "activating" subversive dissidence against the regime, Nhat Tran, as many other prisoners, was tortured and cooped up in a dark cell with his hands and feet tied behind his back for many months. Interrogations were conducted day and night. Many prisoners died during these interrogations because of savage torture. After that, the prisoners are often transferred to a concentration camp for "reeducation" and forced labor, whether he is guilty or not. There is seldom a trial. Nevertheless, he is considered a convict. At camp, they are tacitly "reeducation" camp detainees. The people in the North are fearful of such term! There will be no fixed term of detention for a person who is under "reeducation." A man's life at camp is worthless. During the time Nhat Tran was detained at Quyet Tien camp, which is known as Cong Troi (Gate to Heaven), in Hoang Lien Son, a cadre once told him: "Your life is only worth a sheet of paper of a student's notebook." He only told the truth. The Communists don't kill prisoners. They only starve them and enslave them into hopelessness, instilling in them the idea that they will never be released. Many healthy prisoners became insane and died of hopelessness (Nguyen Tri, 14 (December 1992).

Mental Torture

Pham Van Thanh reported that, contrary to the propagandistic meaning of "reeducation," prisoners are forbidden to enrich their minds educationally. Learning activities such as studying foreign languages, human civilization, and world civilization are forbidden. Books on religion and language dictionaries are confiscated. Mental torture is used as an instrument to wither the inmates' bodily and moral strength (Pham Van Thanh, 1994).

Hoang Duy Hung, a young Vietnamese American, was quietly released on July 6, 1993. He had been secretly arrested in April 1992 on charges of "harming security and public order." Upon returning to the United States, Hoang visited the daily Nguoi Viet (The Vietnamese People) in Westminster California on July 8, 1993. He disclosed more details of his detention. Hoang said he belongs to the Youth Movement for Vietnam's Democracy, which is active in the United States as well as in Vietnam. Hoang was arrested upon his third return to Vietnam. He lost more than 40 pounds in prison. He had been held in a cell at Chi Hoa prison, among some of the famous political prisoners such as Doan Viet Hoat, the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh, Nguyen Thanh Van, and Tran Manh Quynh. He was brutally treated, being terrorized constantly and intensively. He attempted suicide. Twice, he went on a hunger strike for a total of twenty-eight days to protest the mistreatment.

Humiliation

Buu Lich recounted that, to humiliate the soldiers of the puppet government, the instructors called them before the meetings at which certain letters considered to be unsuited to the norms established by the camp were read out loud. The writers of the letters recalled certain details of their intimate life before reeducation. All were read in public, regardless of the annoyance of those who were forced to listen to them. The cadres, however, felt at ease. Was that, on their part, an intention to humiliate these people or a mode of living that would permit them to think about intimacy?

In a totalitarian regime where the public domain was ever becoming increasingly overwhelming it encroaches on the private domain. Reeducation itself is not only confined to politics and the behavior of the individual. That is why Communist cadres always "cared for" the moral attitude of the military of the puppet government. There appeared a dialogue of the deaf between the reeducated and cadres who took pride in controlling the minds of the reeducated. The educated, on the other hand, refrained from shaking with laughter. They were aware that the new regime would drag South Vietnam into decades of backwardness. Using ploughs and guns at the same time, the troops of North Vietnam were, first, revolutionary soldiers whose ideological role was more important than their function as soldiers. They never suspected that the prisoners subjected to their control were intellectuals of the South were holders of university diplomas, national and overseas.

On August 14, 1994, former National Assemblyman Nguyen Ly Tuong of the Republic of Vietnam, in an interview with the newspaper "Thoi Luan" (Vietnam Post), talked about two categories of inmates: detainees for reeducation and political dissidents. The former category was subject to strict measures as a kind of revenge. If detainees were detained in a great number, the Communists could not "display their talents." Political dissidents were arrested and detained in small groups and thus were exposed to savage treatment. Many of them were cooped up in kennels. They had to sit with their backs curved and crawl in and out grabbing food just like wild animals. Participation in any kind of protest was strictly observed. Nguyen Ly Tuong recalled an incident at Chi Hoa prison of which he was a witness. Poet Truong Thai Son was elected Chairman of the Struggle Committee and demanded respect for human rights, and discrimination between political prisoners and criminals. It was because of their participation in the struggle that Dr. Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Manh Quynh, and other political prisoners were transferred to another prison in the North. Conversations between prisoners were also strictly limited. They were observed very closely.

By executing such a mental oppression, in the view of Le Thanh, the Vietnamese Communist Party has seriously violated the human and civil rights as defined in Part IV of the 1948/50 Resolution signed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 12, 1948. In fact, however threatening, the sufferings caused by hunger and misery are much less acute than the mental suppression and spiritual destruction of the human person, the enslavement of the human being. The percentage of camp detainees who succumbed to death due to undernourishment was very much lower than that of those who died from mental and spiritual maltreatment. Punishments of other kinds were destined to exploit the prisoners’ sufferings. They put them under separate confinement. They canceled their correspondence with their family members and relatives. Worse still, local authorities forced camp detainees' wives and children to resettle in the so-called economic zone. They also screened out children of camp detainees from college and university entrance examinations. These and other forms of punishment are more cruel than death before a firing squad! (Trung Tan, 9 (May 1992)).

Deaths

During his official visit to France in April 1977, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong maintained that Lawyer Tran Van Tuyen was still alive, knowing that the lawyer, in fact, died in Lao Kay Work Camp, North Vietnam, in April 1976. Even the lawyer's family was kept totally uninformed. Former senator Hoang Xuan Hao reported in his memoirs that starvation is perdurable in Communist prisons and reeducation camps. Throughout the year 1976-1979, at reeducation camps in North Vietnam such as Lam Son and Thanh Cam in the Thanh Hoa province, the number of those prisoners who died of starvation was innumerable. They were both criminals and political prisoners. Among them were ethnic highlanders who were rounded up into prisons during the Chinese invasion into the six provinces along the Sino-Vietnamese frontier. The prisons and camps' boards of supervision could not make enough coffins for the victims. Since there were not enough coffins to keep up with the demand, the supervisors made an "all-purpose" coffin. This kind of coffin was made with bolts fastened at the bottom. One only needed to unfasten the bolts, and the corpses would then automatically released into the ditch. That was very convenient. One coffin was enough for innumerable deaths!

Hoang Hai Thuy recalled the deaths of his two friends, Nguyen Hoat and Duong Hung Cuong who were both well-known writers: Nguyen Hoat died of high blood pressure due to the lack of medical treatment. He was detained at Collective Room II, Phan Dang Luu prison, which was close to Hoang's room, 10 ED. Khuat Duy Trac, who was detained in Room 9, one night, heard a certain prisoner cried out to the cadres in charge of Room ED that there was a man who was seriously ill. It was an emergency case, and Nguyen was already unconscious. His roommate had to carry him on the back to the Chi Hoa prison's dispensary. Nguyen left the ED quarters at 11:00 p.m. The next morning, at about 9:00, Hoang and his friends heard that Nguyen died. Duong Hung Cuong died at the solitary confinement quarters of C1. Those prisoners transferred from Chi Hoa prison to Phan Dang Luu prison later recounted that Duong possibly died from a pneumonia; he was alone in his cell. At 6 o'clock in the morning, when the wardens came to make a roll call, they found him already cold dead (Hoang Hai Thuy, 1995: 34).

Executions

Anyone caught trying to escape from a reeducation camp would be shot on sight, without any semblance of a trial. Accomplices are dragged in front of the other prisoners and bludgeoned on the soles of their feet to set an example. They are then left in the prison yard, without medical treatment, without food or water, to be preyed upon by swarms of flies and ants until they die. Lieutenant colonel Pham Ba Ham at Long Thanh Camp died this way. Another barbaric method employed is chaining prisoners to a jeep, dragging them around town until they die like in the Italian westerns. This was the fate of prisoners who took part in the uprising on the second day of the 1978 Tet in the center of Ben Tre (Washington Area League for Human Rights, 1978: 18).

Nguyen Thanh Tham, who had been detained for thirteen years in reeducation camps, reported that he knows cases of savage execution of officers of the Republic of Vietnam. Lieutenant Colonel Vo Vang was executed while he was sent to clear forest at Bong Mieu, Ky Son, Quang Nam Province in 1976. He was separated from his work team and ordered by a warden to go in a different direction. After fifteen minutes, three gun shots were heard. Back at camp in the evening, the warden said that Vo Vang tried to escape and was shot dead. Lieutenant Ha Thuc Long was shot dead in a similar situation at Ky Son in 1977. After an abortive scheme to escape from camp, Air Force Captain Nguyen Dien was secretly executed at An Diem, Quang Nam Province in 1979.

Revenge on the Prisoner

Nguyen Quoc Quan, Chairman of the International Support Committee for the High Tide Movement for Humanism, informed in August 1994, that the Hanoi administration avenged on Nguyen Dan Que. Hanoi failed to compromise Nguyen Dan Que before it prepared a meeting between Nguyen Dan Que and U.S. Senator Charles Robb. On August 29, 1993, Nguyen Dan Que, from labor camp K3 in Xuan Loc, sent a short handwritten letter to Senator Charles Robb, the International Amnesty, and Nguyen Quoc Quan alarming that he was terrorized.

The letter said:

Terms of Detention

Nhat Tran, who was detained without trial, said that, in general, a term of detention is three years. Depending on the category into which he is classified, a camp detainee can be either released after three years of detention or more. Communist cadres often classify camp detainees according to categories: those officers and officials who are relatives of Communist high-ranking cadres and members of the Vietnamese Communist Party, those officers and officials who cooperated with or worked for the Communists during the war, those who are seriously ill and can't escape death, and those who work as spies in camps for the Communists...

During the first three years, camp detainees were under the control of the Communist troops. During the next three years, they are under the control of cadres from the Ministry for the Interior--the Secret Police. Camp detainees were then screened out and categorized according to their "crimes against the people." Those officers and officials who were considered the most dangerous elements were sent to camps in the North, and those who were less dangerous were retained in camps in the South. A term of detention varies along lines of favors, privileges, or "crimes." A Major can be released before or after three years of detention while a noncommissioned officer or lower level official can be detained for 5, 6, or 10 years (Nguyen Tri, 14 (December 1993)).

Vo Dai Ton, who ventured to go back to Vietnam to join the Resistance, related that the prison with the secret code B14 (Thanh Liet, Thanh Tri District, Ha Dong Province) is about 12 kilometers south of the center of Hanoi. It is under the supervision of the Ministry for the Interior. People call it Thanh Liet Camp. In principle, it is a temporary detention camp. All kinds of prisoners, both political prisoners and criminals, were under temporary detention there for interrogation. In practice, under the Communist legal system, temporary detention also means that you will be detained until death without trial and without a specific term of detention. The Ministry for the Interior only needs to sign a new term of detention for every three years, and you will be detained until death for the reason that you have not yet been well reeducated. Any political prisoner transferred to this prison would have an unlimited term of detention, which is elastic as rubber (Vo Dai Ton, 1993: 169).

Correspondence

No prisoner, no matter in what prison he is detained, has the right to contact his family, even by letter, only on Tet (New Year) and the Labor Day (May 1). On these days, he is allowed to write, provided that his letter should strictly conform with the Prison Superintendent's instructions and follow the three following topics: 1) I am well (whatever the prisoner's actual physical condition); 2) The Government is merciful to me (for all my wrong doings); and 3) At home, you must obey the orders of the Government, which is so generous to us (Washington Area League for Human Rights, 1978: 17-18 ).

Mails leaving camp that have not yet been censored by the camp authorities are restricted. All disciplinary deviations are met with solitary confinement coupled with being fettered in a mere 2.5 square meters cell. The mail contents should be coupled with the expression of political faith in the regime. There are by-laws for mail writing, and the camp prisoners have to comply with them strictly. So, the inmates often try to convey their hidden ideas through hints in their letters to their families. The following is the content of a letter of an inmate who developed beriberi.

Currency Exchange

The currency exchange system in camp is primitive and exploitative. Prisoners are not allowed to possess commonly used currency. Money given by prisoners' families are to be converted to "prison currency." They are instantly devalued by 50%. At the same time, of the prices of goods sold in camp are at least twice more expensive than the same goods sold outside of camp. Prisoners at Camp A20 can only survive on supplies from their families.

Visits

On May 13, 1994, Tran Thi Thuc, in her letter to the Party leadership and government, presented the constraints of the arrest and the hardship on detention of her husband and the restrictions on her visit to him. The letter wrote, in part:

Protest at Camp

The Committee on Human Rights in Paris reported from reliable sources inside Vietnam saying that supervisors at Camp A20 duped the U.N. Human Rights Action Team, led by Louis Joinet, when they visited the camp on October 28, 1994. At 13:30 p.m on October 28, 1994, the supervisors at the A20 camp ordered all the prisoners, including ailing and sick prisoners, to leave the camp immediately. Before that time, a group of prisoners had been transferred to another camp. Still, another group of prisoners, among whom were Monks Thich Tue Sy Pham Van Thuong, Thich Phuoc Vien Le Hien, Thich Tam Can Nguyen Huu Tin, Pham Van Thanh, Le Hoan Son, Pham Anh Dung, and Nguyen Ngoc Dang, were isolated. At 16:00 p.m., the U.N. Human Rights Action Team visited the A20 Camp in Phu Yen Province, commonly known as "the Death Valley." There, 2,000 tombs still stood around the camp. They were the evidences of the deaths of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners. These prisoners died from maltreatment between 1976 and 1987. The team requested to visit the prisoners and 8 rows of houses in the camp. The camp's Board of Supervisors explained that "all the prisoners had been moved to assist in the flood aid actions in the Mekong Delta." The team only met 4 "model" healthy, neatly dressed prisoners. As a matter of fact, they "praised the regime and the policy of leniency of the Party and State towards prisoners." The visit lasted two hours, during which electricity in almost everywhere throughout the camp was cut, and prisoners were ordered not to make any noise to create an atmosphere of silence and emptiness. At 22:00 p.m., the prisoners were allowed to go back to their detention rooms. They did not even know about the presence of a U.N. team at camp and thus did not have a chance to meet them and present to them the severe measures against them in Communist prisons. The prisoners expressed their indignation at 5:00 a.m. on October 29, 1994. This expression of indignation quickly spread to other houses of detention. At last, all 250 political prisoners heatedly protested against the camp's board of supervisors for duping the U.N. Human Rights Team. Seven political prisoners were called in for interrogation, and 87 others were forced to calm down the situation. At 20:00 p.m. on the same day, political prisoner Pham Van Thanh announced a hunger strike. On the morning of October 29, 1994, political prisoners Hoang Xuan Chinh and Tran Nam Phuong announced their support for Pham Van Thanh and went on a hunger strike to protest against the camp's board of supervisors for violating international conventions and obstructing political prisoners from meeting the U.N. Human Rights Team. The hunger strike spread all around Camp A20.

Confronting the open protest of the prisoners in the whole camp, the camp's board of supervisors mobilized prison wardens, in cooperation with military troops, to crush down the political prisoners' protest. There were gunshots, and many political prisoners were wounded. On the evening of October 30, 1994, Pham Van Thanh was fettered and cooped up in a separate detention cell. The hunger strike lasted seven days and ended in the repression of the security police force.

Tran Manh Quynh said:

The "Blood University" by Ha Thuc Sinh ended with a living scene near a stream running across the Ham Tan camp. The author and his fellow inmates just got their temporary release permits and had a bath in the stream before leaving the camp. Seeing the inmates happily wading in the stream, a security guard at the camp gate shouted:

Under the Administrative Detention

Nguyen Thi Diep described how the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do lived under administrative detention:

According to Le Thanh, political discrimination is very strong. In many cases, a private, a sergeant, a second lieutenant, a teacher, a priest, a writer, or even a businessman could be detained in camp for 10 or more years if he was a prominent personality whose prestige may influence the population in the local area, and if he is likely dangerous to the Communist regime. Once released from camp, such individual is not allowed to return to his home town. He is often placed under the control of the local police or confined in some other areas.

There was no surprise when the Communists engaged in using the administrative personnel body of the Republic of Vietnam. To maintain the status quo, they needed them to normalize public administration. However, after they had stabilized their control over the administrative systems, they gradually replaced officials of the old political regime with cadres from the North. Many officials of the old regime were then dismissed or displaced.

As regards specialists and experts, the Communists employ only those they consider the most necessary, those whom they can't find anyone to replace. The Communists are not much concerned about employing personnel with diplomas. They are particularly concerned with state workers and officials with absolute loyalty to the Communist party and communism. They don't need cadres with a creative mind. They need those who carry out, with complete obedience, commandments and orders from the party central committees. Who, among veteran camp detainees, would be employed by the State?

Ho Nguyen said:

Pham Sy explicated:

Political prisoner Pham Van Thanh specifically requests the United Nations Commission on Human Rights: 1) to investigate into the deaths of religious leaders such as the Venerable Thich Thien Minh, Buddhist monk, who died at Camp A20; the Venerable Thich Tri Thu, Buddhist monk, who died at Thong Nhat Hospital; the Reverend Nguyen Van Vang, Catholic priest, who died while under separate confinement in 1986; the Reverend Nguyen Luan, Catholic priest, who died while under separate confinement in 1986; and the Reverend Minh, Catholic priest of the St. Vincent Order, who died under separate confinement in 1986; 2) to conduct investigations regarding medical conditions at Camp A20 where only aspirin is prescribed regardless of illness! Admission to the hospital almost assures death to follow (as in the cases of Truong and Truc, who both died when reaching Tuy Hoa Hospital); 3) to conduct investigations regarding inhuman conditions at Camp A20 such as imprisoning political prisoners with criminals such as murderers, rapists, and robbers to allow the latter to keep surveillance on the former. Political prisoners could be abused or degraded at will by those criminals. This type of ill-treatment will torture their minds to an insufferable limit of tension; 4) conduct investigations into all forms of violations of religious freedom. Prisoners are forbidden to pray, to celebrate the Holy Mass, to burn incense, to place religious symbols and idols on top of their beds. All other religious activities such as promulgation of faith or expression of religious belief are strictly prohibited; and 5) to conduct investigations into the exploitation of prisoners' labor which is devoted to enriching a small number of wardens and guards. These incidents are too numerous to be itemized.

Remarks

1. Code 71 in the 1992 Constitution states that "No citizen is considered guilty when not tried and sentenced by a court." This shows that only the sentence handed down by the court is legal. Any addition or subtraction to the court's sentence in any form and by any individuals or organizations during the time of the sentence is served is clearly violating Code 71 of the current Constitution.

2. The serving of the sentence stands other laws abiding document; therefore, one cannot violate the spirit and content of code 71 as well as other codes in the Constitution that is the highest law. In other words, the serving of a sentence cannot go beyond the sentence handed down by the court, regarding the time served and penalty. Practically speaking, forced labor, especially manual hard labor, is only applied constitutionally and legally to the sentences if the court decides to have such penalties (hard labor, light labor) carried out.

3. In the current judicial system, there are only sentences for detention, and there is no decision on whether forced labor, light or hard, is to be applied. Therefore, any forced labor, in any form, is clearly a violation of the sentences of the courts. If forced labor continues, then it violates code 71 of the current Constitution, the international public laws and norms and especially the Universal Covenants on Civil and Human Rights regarding legal process and detention.

Recommendations

After reviewing the living and working conditions in the prison camps, Doan Viet Hoat, Tran Tu, and Tran Manh Quynh recommended the Vietnamese Communist authorities: 1) To establish a national commission to inspect prison camps. This commission must be totally independent of all institutions involved in the organization and operation of prison camps. This committee should be placed directly under the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and be vested with the responsibilities to inspect all prison camps, to study the situations in the prison camps, and make recommendations for changes in prison policy. 2) To review all legal documents relating to every aspect of organization and management of prison camps as well as the implementation of the courts' sentences. Any violation of the spirit and the content of the current Constitution must be corrected, and 3) While waiting for these major corrections, a number of immediate changes to the current working and living conditions in the camps need to be made to lessen the negative effects and increase the educating effect during the detention. They recommend, in particular, a) to abolish all forms of extreme hard labor and to reduce working hours; b) to organize classes to teach literacy, foreign languages, vocations, etc.; c) to allow entertaining activities such as music, exercises, sports, etc.; and d) to utilize the abilities of the prisoners themselves to organize the above activities (Pham Van Thanh, 1994).