Cu Huy Ha Vu

Cù Huy Hà Vũ is a Vietnamese legal scholar. A government critic and a dissident, he was taken into custody in 2010 on charges of "propaganda against the state" and "plotting to overthrow the communist government of Vietnam". On 4 April 2011, Vũ was sentenced to 7 years in prison for "spreading anti-state propaganda", drawing protests from human rights groups, the Catholic Church, and the international community.

On 6 April 2014, Vũ was released from prison and taken to Noi Bai International Airport to be flown to Dulles International Airport, along with his wife.

Background

He is a son of poet Cù Huy Cận, who gained his political position in Vietnam thanks to being a companion of Ho Chi Minh during the Indochina War and Vietnam War.

Vũ graduated with a doctorate in law from France's University of Paris, though he did not become a licensed lawyer in Vietnam. Vũ stated that he wished for Vietnam to adopt democratic reforms and a multiparty system of government.

Trial

On 5 November 2010, Vũ was arrested at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City; police claim to have arrested him when he was with a woman who was not his wife, and briefly posted photos of a half-dressed Vũ with a blurred woman to an official website. Vũ's home and law office were subsequently searched. Democracy activists Phạm Hồng Sơn and Lê Quốc Quân were arrested attempting to observe the trial and charged with "causing public disorder". Son's wife Vũ Thu Ha stated that Son had been assaulted by police with batons prior to his arrest.

The U.S. criticized the sentence, with the U.S. State Department saying that the "apparent lack of due process" at Vũ's trial was troubling. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience and urged his immediate release. Catholic churches held prayer vigils for Vũ in recognition of his work defending the rights of the country's Catholics. Human Rights Watch described the trial as "one of the most important cases involving a political dissident in the recent history of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Reporters Without Borders "deplored" the verdict, stating, "We call on the authorities to end their harassment of dissidents, and to begin respecting free speech and the right of each citizen to freely express an opinion. Vũ must be freed without delay." The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights stated "their deepest concern" for Vũ in a joint statement, with OMCT saying that "This case is sadly yet another example of the ongoing repression of fundamental rights in Viet Nam, and human rights defenders in particular have borne the brunt of such repression."

The sentence was upheld by an appeals court in Hanoi on 2 August. In 2012, Vũ was a finalist for the Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, which ultimately went to Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi. The same year, he was nominated for the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize "The tribute of lawyers to a lawyer".