Bangkok/The Police of Vietnam, one of the most repressive countries in the world regarding freedom of the press and expression, have arrested three workers from a publishing house in the framework of an investigation related to the publication of a book about the national hero Ho Chi Minh.
The three detainees are the director, the head of the editorial board and the editor-in-chief of the Editorial Association of Writers, who participated in the “editing, review, publication and promotion” of the book. Stories with Thanh: a new light storyaccording to information from the authorities cited by the official press.
The Police determined that the manuscript distorts the history of the revolutionary movements in Vietnam, as well as the policies and guidelines of the Party and the State, while insulting the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, as well as other Vietnamese leaders, the Vietnam+ portal reported this Wednesday.
The Police determined that the manuscript distorts the history of the revolutionary movements in Vietnam, as well as the policies and guidelines of the Party and the State.
According to the aforementioned investigation, the three detainees have “prepared, stored, distributed or disseminated information, documents or objects intended to sabotage the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, as stipulated in article 117 of the Penal Code, one of the most widely used regulations against dissent and freedom of expression in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), the most important Vietnamese revolutionary leader, was the first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Northern Vietnam), from 1951 until his death, and is still revered today by the majority of the Vietnamese population.
Despite the opposition of the national hero to the creation of temples and statues in his name, six years after his death, following the victory of the communist north over the pro-American south in the war, the mausoleum in which his remains lie was built in Hanoi, becoming one of the great attractions of the capital.
Vietnam is one of the most repressive countries in the world regarding freedom of the press and expression and for years it has punished dissidents with prison for spreading criticism, considered by the authorities as a crime of propaganda against the State.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Vietnam 174th out of 180 countries in its Press Freedom Index, while at least 160 activists are arbitrarily imprisoned in Vietnam, according to Human Rights Watch.
