Chan Nhu/RFA
Former political prisioner and vice-president of the Brotherhood for Democracy Nguyen Van Dai, along with three associates, was attacked and robbed by masked men during a visit to fellow activists in central Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Dai displays his face after he was beaten by masked assailants in Nghe An province,
Dec. 6, 2015. (Photo courtesy of Nguyen Van Dai)
They were in a taxi heading back to Hanoi when they were intercepted by men they identified as plainclothes police officers driving two unregistered cars and five motorcycles. They said as many as twenty officers rushed at them, dragged them from the taxi and began beating them with metal bars.
Two of the group managed to run off and call for help, but Dai was cornered and subjected to a violent beating. He was partially stripped, robbed of his wallet, phone and shoes, and left beside a beach.
The other activists, Vu Van Minh, Ly Quang Son and Le Manh Thang, also suffered cuts and bruises in the assault. The encounter with the police had begun earlier when officers had attempted to disrupt a meeting the Hanoi activists were having with local civil rights groups and Catholic campaigners in Nghe An province.
Dai, who had previously been imprisoned for his work on political cases, said he had suffered a similar attack in May last year and several other incidents of assault since, though none of the cases were ever resolved by police. He said he had no intention of reporting the latest attack to the authorities.
The assault is the latest in a series of violent attacks on civil rights campaigners.
To read more, click here: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/assault-12072015163229.html
