When words of the 15-month suspended sentence verdict reached out to bloggers and freelance journalists, the news has immediately spreaded widely among the public, whose initial reaction was joyful and excited. They feel happy for Uy’s family that, right now, he is freed from the hell of prison. It can be considered as a backward step from the regime under the pressure of bloggers and human rights activists at home and abroad.
However, the joy of this momentum can sedate our alertness, preventing us from recognizing the following three important issues that the Court of the Communist Party has deliberately concealed.
Firstly, the court wanted the public to forget about the arbitrariness and tyranny of the Public Security Department regarding the “urgent arrest" of Dinh Nhat Uy on June 15, 2013 despite the fact that Uy was not a subject to such an arrest. His arrest took place just months after Uy setting up his Facebook page to express his frustrations about the arbitrary detention of his younger brother Dinh Nguyen Kha. There is no other reason to explain the illegal and arbitrary action of that arrest except a reality that the police just carried out an ugly retaliation against his bitter criticisms.
Secondly, the court wanted to save face for the People's Procuratorate of Tan An City, Long An Province, for preparing a ridiculous indictment - an indictment that reveals a pathetic level of the judiciary based on the fact findings of such a pathetic security branch.
The truth is, under the govern of a righteous government, the arguments in that indictment and those so-called evidence of offenses confiscated by police would have no way to accuse Uy from committing a crime. The truth is Uy is innocent; therefore, he should be acquitted and compensated.
Thirdly, although the judges understood so, they were aware that if Uy was declared innocent and acquitted, the court would be responsible to apologize and pay damages to Dinh Nhat Uy for his four months of arbitrary detention. Therefore, the court could not afford to acquit him. Hence, this is the third issue why the Communist Party wanted and instructed its court to go ahead with an unjust and ridiculous judgment in order to run away from the obligation to compensate the victim of injustice.
We have to seek for justice for Uy and the bloggers
When the court of the communist party wants us to forget, we have to remember. When that court wants to run away from its debt of an apology and a compensation, we must repeatedly request it to fulfill its honor and obligation. In other words, we do not accept the phony verdict of the People’s Court of Long An imposed on Dinh Nhat Uy. Accepting that 15-month suspended sentence would mean we agree that Uy is guilty – the guilt of using Facebook to say and write what the regime does not like. That suspended sentence is not only dropped on Dinh Nhat Uy but also hung over our heads since we use blogs and social networks to express our thoughts.
Four months of unjust imprisonment, a canceled wedding, a lost job, a sold piece of land of the family, and a stream of tears from a mother’s eyes that flows nightly - just a few to list. These are the real losses and sufferings of a citizen and his family inflicted by a police-state regime in the name of “protecting the state interests, the rights and interests of organizations and citizens."
It is known that Dinh Nhat Uy also rejects the verdict and will appeal.
Many people think that the case of Dinh Nhat Uy is the first in the world in which a person must appear in court for using Facebook. Let's speak out so that this will be the first case in Vietnam in which the regime should apologize and make compensation to a citizen who is stripped off his freedom of speech.
