- Translated by Dương Ánh Hồng
In an evening
of late August, 2009, I was “urgently arrested” at a café in the central of
Hanoi for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the
State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens”,
violating Article 258 of the Penal Code.
I still
remember the full name of the police officer who read the arrest warrant with a
threatening face and suppressive voice. Also, I cannot forget how stuck and helpless
I was getting on the following days. I even burst into tears in the
interrogation room for I did not know how to prove my innocence, and I could
not understand why I was involved in a “national security” issue. I, sometimes,
was pale-faced and trembled with fear at the thought of being convicted of so
many serious crimes for which how long I would be sentenced in prison…
On those
days, I never thought that I would be one of the people signing in Statement 258
of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers four years later, demanding for the
abrogation of Article 258 to demonstrate Vietnam’s Human Rights Council
candidacy commitment.
However,
there is one matter I have thought about over and over so far, that is, laws
must be a tool to protect the right to freedoms of the citizen, not the regime;
and, the citizen must understand the basics of laws, meaning understanding
his/her own freedom rights or else he/she will be repressed, or in common
speech, “bullied” by the State.
The more
events in which the police and security officers abusing power for their
benefits to put the society and citizens at a disadvantage I witness, the more
I realize that background knowledge of politics, laws and concepts such as rule
of law, human rights … have been becoming urgent needs for all of us. Know your
rights. Know how to apply laws as a device for self-protection. And, know how
to reject an defective law system.
To the extent
of my knowledge, I have made my best effort to act beyond my ability, that is,
to publicize simple writings on laws and human rights, attached to concrete
situations in real life, so that we will altogether learn about a broad,
complicated and extremely essential field in improving the society.
What I am
writing here, for sure, is not a universal truth, so the question remains open
for readers’ comments and conclusion.
The story
today begins with a recent event in which I have been involved to some extent.
* * *
TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF A POLICE OFFICER
Situation
On Friday, 9
August, 2013, a police officer coming to my house as appointed with my mother
on phone before. My mother did not know her, whereas I knew her but was not in
Vietnam for I was staying in Bangkok to participate in handing Statement 258 to
international organizations there.
Despite the rain, she arrived on time. Apart from my mother and her, there were some of
my friends who are bloggers in my house. The conversation focused on me and my
job. The atmosphere was calm. However, some time later, one more blogger,
Nguyen Chi Duc, appeared. He held the camera and shot a picture of this police
officer.
Then she got
angry and insulted Duc as “being uneducated” for taking photo without any
consent. To dissuade her action, my mother said, “Here we are in my house, so
who prohibits him from taking a photo of his friends?” Still, the woman kept
furious, scolding and eventually left my house. Later she called my mother and
said, “If you continue to invite Doan Trang’s friends to your house like this
time, you will cause bad problems to your daughter.”
Photo by Nguyen Chi Duc
(aka. Dong Hai Long Vuong, the Dragon King of the East Sea)
Question
The question
is: In this situation, is the behavior that Nguyen Chi Duc took a picture
without consent considered as a wrongdoing or not?
My answer is
as followed:
Nguyen Chi
Duc did not need to ask for permission in advance before taking a picture of
the police officer, because Duc was recording images of an officer of a civil
authority which receives tax from citizens to perform an official duty, in details, to
question a citizen.
Duc’s action
lies within scope of supervising activities of a civil authority and an officer
of that authority, which is legitimate (regulated in Article 53 of Constitution
“The citizen has the right to participate in the administration of the State
and management of society”) and in conformity with the spirit of laws “the
citizen has the right to take any action which is not prohibited by laws”, “the
citizen has the right to supervise the activities of authority officers.”
Supposedly,
the police officer argues, “I go to Doan Trang’s house just to visit her
family, not to be on my official duty. The action that Nguyen Chi Duc took a
picture of me, hence, obviously violated Article 31 of the Civil Law in terms
of the right of an individual to his/her own picture”.
My answer is:
Security and police officers (referred to as police) have sought to circumvent the
phrase “to undertake a mission” by using euphemisms such as “to
have an informal meeting” or “to have a coffee and discuss”, meaning nothing
serious. To clarify the meaning of “an informal meeting”, however, there are three
points as below:
- First, for an informal meeting, it is required to get agreement as well as goodwill from the citizen. In addition, the conversation must not be related to any information which caused disadvantage to either the citizen’s side or the third party.
- Second, for an informal meeting, the police officer shall not introduce himself/herself as an authority officer. And, during the conversation, he/she absolutely does not have the right to exploit and use information collected (if any) for any purpose.
- The last but most important is that, the citizen has the right to refuse such a kind of informal meeting offered by the police officer.
All the information
clears up that the police officer’s visiting on that day aimed at conducting
her mission; consequently, it is legal to take a picture of her without any
consent.
Image courtesy of AFP.
Quotes
“The behavior
of filming or taking pictures lies within scope of the citizen’s rights in
terms of supervising the activities of the police. Accordingly, using camera to
record images of the police is a completely legitimate action” (as per Senior
Lieutenant-General Le The Tiem’s answer in an interview conducted by Tuoi Tre
Newspapers, article dated 4 December, 2010, available at: http://tuoitre.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/414203/quay-phim-chup-anh-la-quyen-cua-dan.html)
“Pressurizing/ Putting
relatives and friends under psychological crisis is a basic and familiar tactic of
the police, especially applied to people who are supposed to be political dissidents.
Ironically, there are very few citizens who know how to cope with such “underworld”
trickeries employed by forces under the green cloak. Sometimes, people are so fearful to be aware
that they are not involved in the issue at all, so there’s no reason to report
the police about their children or friends. As a matter of fact, the more they
are nervous, the more information the police exploit from them” (as per jurist
cum journalist Trinh Huu Long).
