A cry for help from the family of Huynh Thuc Vy


Ladies and gentlemen, and my dear friends: 

Last night, February 11, 2014, three plainclothes police disguised as thugs assaulted my father’s home in Tam Ky, Quang Nam province with many large stones. The attack was carried out as follows:

At 7:35 p.m. four men on two motorcycles stopped in front of my father’s house at the village of Phu Quy, Tam Phu commune, Tam Ky district, Quang Nam province and threw four large stones on its roof. 

These are the paving stones and each weighs about 1.5 kg or over 3 lbs. During the assault, two largest stones broke up a concrete corrugated roof sheet and landed just over a meter away from where my father was resting. A victim hit by these stones on the head can be killed instantly. 

After the assault, the men rode away, leaving behind a damaged roof and several broken items inside the house. Luckily, no one was hurt.

It should be reiterated that, on April 4, 2013, my house was attacked with human waste and rotten fish. And on December 31, 2013, three Hanoi police brutally assaulted my father breaking his breastbone.

On these days my family has to deal hardly with continually revengeful acts from the authoritarian regime spanning from the Hanoi police assault on my father to the denial of rental application of my husband and I in Saigon to the home attack last night. 

These actions reveal a sordid conspiracy of the Vietnamese communist regime, which is aimed to reduce the number of arbitrary arrest and detention of dissidents, and to deploy a new way of harassment to inflict dangerous mental health problems on dissidents and to disrupt their normal life. 

On the one hand, this type of repression helps the regime avoid criticism from the public and the media; on the other hand, it provides an effective way to curb the activities of dissidents because they have to clean up the mess that the regime inflicts on their daily life. 

The recent attack on Mr. Nguyen Bac Truyen’s family to arrest him just days before his wedding is a clear sign of that conspiracy.

Above are the latest acts of hooliganism committed by the Vietnamese authorities aimed at my family. Please voice your support for us. 

My regards and thanks, 

Huynh Thuc Vy


Translated by Như Ngọc