MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - Vietnamese activist Pham Le Vuong Cac was held by authorities upon his arrival in Ho Chi Minh City after a UN meeting in Geneva, Radio Free Asia reported, citing a statement by the delegation that represented Vietnamese civil society at the talks.
“On August 1, 2014, one of our members, Pham Le Vuong Cac – a [Ho Chi Minh City]-based human rights defender – was detained and questioned at Tan Son Nhat International Airport by the security police upon his return to Vietnam,” the delegation said in a the statement, voicing concerns that other Vietnamese delegation members could also be punished.
According to the statement, Cac was held for 24 hours and the police used “unlawful methods, including using threats” while trying to extract information from him.
Talks on Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review – a process, evaluating the country’s progress in protecting fundamental human rights – were held in Geneva in June 2014.
Pham Le Vuong Cac, a blogger and independent journalist, arrived there in a group with three other Vietnamese activists. After the talks they traveled to Belgium, Poland and Czech Republic to meet with UN agencies, EU authorities and NGOs.
