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Vietnamese activist forced to undergo mental health assessment while awaiting trial

A well-known Vietnamese activist in Hanoi who raised funds for the families of jailed prisoners of conscience and was nearly 10 months ago, underwent a forced psychiatric evaluation while being held in pre-trial detention, her husband said Monday.

Nguyen Thuy Hanh, 58, who founded the 50k Fund to provide support to families of political prisoners in Vietnam who can’t afford to travel to the jails where their relatives are held, was arrested in April 2021 and charged with disseminating materials against the state, according to official media in the one-party communist state.

Local government authorities froze Hanh’s Vietcombank account in 2020 after she raised about 500 million Vietnamese dong (U.S. $21,600) to support the family of Le Dinh Kinh, the elderly leader of the Dong Tam commune, who was killed during an earlier police raid on Dong Tam amid a long-running land dispute that landed many of his family members in jail.

“They took her to a mental health hospital and kept her there for one month, from Dec. 7 to Jan. 7 for medical evaluation,” Huynh Ngoc Chenh, Hanh’s husband, told RFA. “I learned this information from some patients at the hospital. The investigation agency did not inform our family about this issue at all.”

At least four patients at National Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi called him about his wife’s psychiatric examination, and contact at the hospital verified the information, Chenh wrote on a Facebook post.

Before she was arrested, Hanh was suffering from depression and was undergoing treatment, Chenh said.

Hanh’s family has not received any information about her health condition since her arrested, he added.

“She used to have serious depression, and I had to take her to the France-Vietnam International Hospital in Saigon [Ho Chi minh City] and to a specialist [who had a private clinic] for treatment,” Chenh said. “Thanks to this specialist, her health had improved a lot. However, I haven’t had any information about her health since she was arrested in April 2021.”

Authorities have not allowed Hanh’s defense lawyers to see his client, Chenh said.

“My wife had hired two law firms [to be her legal representatives] before she was arrested,” he said. “Their lawyers have registered to be her defense lawyers. However, the investigation agency said in cases related to national security, lawyers are not allowed to meet with their clients until the investigation is complete.”

Vietnamese authorities routinely order psychiatric evaluations of activists who oppose their detention for exercising their rights under Vietnam’s constitution. Other prominent detained Vietnamese, including Land activist Trinh Ba Phuong, dissident writer Pham Thanh, and blogger Le Anh Hung. also have been subjected to psychiatric exams.

Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.