Sham trial awaits American citizen from Orange County in Vietnam

Michael Nguyen, an American citizen, will arrive at a courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City early Monday, most likely handcuffed and wearing a white and black striped prison uniform.

The government will assign him an attorney, but give them little to no time to prepare his defense.

Detained for nearly a year, accused of conspiring against the Vietnamese government, Nguyen’s trial is expected to be short. There will be little discussion. Charges will be read before a panel of judges. Witnesses may or may not be called in. And Nguyen will be allowed some final words.

Then, according to people familiar with the Vietnamese legal system, Nguyen will be pronounced guilty – the verdict that many say come at the end of every political trial in Vietnam.

“It’s just a show,” said Quan Quoc Nguyen, 66, of Garden Grove, during a phone interview on Friday.

Quan Quoc Nguyen doesn’t know Michael Nguyen, but he knows what the Orange resident is going through. He’s been imprisoned in Vietnam himself – twice.

Others who track Vietnam’s legal system agree.

“It’s a farse,” said Duy Dan Hoang, a Washington D.C.-based spokesman for Viet Tan, a pro-democracy political party – outlawed in Vietnam – that seeks political change in the communist country.

“It will only last for maybe a couple of hours. They read the charges… A judge will read the sentence,” said Hoang, whose group is not affiliated with Michael Nguyen.

“There’s no suspense,” Hoang said. “We all know a person is going to be convicted.”

Michael Nguyen

Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen, now 55, was detained last July as he was traveling through Da Nang.

His family said he was visiting relatives and friends until authorities pulled him off a bus and arrested him along with three other people. One of the people arrested has been released, but Nguyen’s brother-in-law, Mark Roberts, believes the others might be tried alongside Nguyen.

So far, Nguyen has not officially been charged. But his family said he has been investigated for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government, violating Article 109 of that nation’s penal code. His family insists he’s not involved in any political actions.

If found guilty of violating Article 109, the maximum punishment is death. But that sentence is typically reserved for Vietnamese citizens, and for more serious crimes, said UC Irvine Assistant Professor Long Bui, who specializes in Vietnam studies.

Bui said prison time, meanwhile, “could totally run the gamut, from one year to the maximum of 20 years.”

Vietnam has increasingly cracked down on dissent in recent years, particularly on bloggers and citizen journalists, but arrests of American citizens are uncommon.

Last year, a Texas man, William Anh Nguyen, was released and deported after he was accused of “causing public disorder” during public protests over proposed special economic zones the Vietnamese fear will be dominated by Chinese investors. A Yale graduate, Nguyen was in Ho Chi Minh City on a tourist visa. During his one day trial, a court ruled that he should be immediately deported because he had expressed regret for his actions, according to news reports.

“His rights were violated. He was mistreated,” said Hoang, of Viet Tan. “It was a warning to others who want to visit Vietnam that police can arbitrarily stop people.”

Amnesty International has identified 128 people in prison in Vietnam as prisoners of conscience, a number that is “extremely alarming,” according to Francisco Bencosme, Asia Pacific advocacy manager for the human rights organization. Michael Nguyen is not among that list. A growing number of those detentions revolve around a new cyber-security law which critics say Vietnam is using to suppress dissent online.

Trials can be arbitrary, Bencosme said.

“If national security is involved, authorities have wide discretion on how they handle the case.”

“Life in jail is to suffer”

Perhaps one of the most prominent cases in recent years of American citizens arrested in Vietnam was that of Quan Quoc Nguyen, the Garden Grove resident who is a pro-democracy activist with Viet Tan, Hoang said.

As part of the first incident, in 2007, Quan Quoc Nguyen was detained for six months.  He staged a hunger strike to demand a visit with someone from the U.S. Consulate and Embassy and was eventually found guilty of conspiring against the government. A few days after the trial, he was deported.

In the second incident, in 2012, he was accused of terrorism. He again staged a hunger strike, this time to secure an attorney.  The government released him two days before a scheduled trial, saying that he had confessed.

“They always say that,” Quan Quoc Nguyen said laughing, denying he had confessed.

He had been in detention for nine months, housed in a tiny cell with up to three others, all sleeping on a hard floor in a poorly ventilated room.  The lights were on 24 hours a day. It was so hot that the men usually wore only their underwear. They cooled off by splashing water on the floor.

“Life in jail is to suffer,” he said.

Quan Quoc Nguyen said he was driven to stay alive, and to fight the charges, by the support of his family in the United States.

Michael Nguyen has similar backing.

His four daughters pray for him regularly at the altar in their Orange living room, and at church. His wife, Helen, a surgical nurse, has pulled extra shifts to supplement her income, especially after the family lost her husband’s printing business in Garden Grove during his absence. Siblings, nieces, nephews and other relatives regularly stream into their home, where the kitchen area serves as a Grand Central to deal with everyday matters and talk strategy for Michael’s case.

The family has not been allowed to see him. His only visitors, allowed once a month, are representatives from the U.S. Consulate and Embassy in Vietnam. Roberts said those visitors also aren’t allowed to discuss his case.

Political attention

Michael Nguyen’s case is getting the attention of more than two dozen legislators, a bipartisan coalition who are urging the Trump administration to pressure Vietnam for his release.

The push is led by Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, whose district includes Orange, and it was previously led by her Republican predecessor, Mimi Walters.

Porter invited Helen Nguyen as her guest to President Trump’s State of the Union address in February, hoping to call attention to the family’s plight.

Such actions, along with a flurry of speeches in Congress and letters to the administration, can make a difference, said Hoang, of Viet Tan.

“Once it gets the attention of Congress, then it becomes a diplomatic issue.”

Roberts, Nguyen’s brother-in-law, said he hopes the Vietnamese government “knows that young Vietnamese people around the world are watching; we hope they do the right thing.”

Vietnamese officials in Washington D.C. did not reply to requests for comment.

While Helen Nguyen and her four daughters await to hear verdict, another Vietnamese American who has been through the same thing has some advice:

“I don’t know her, but she looks like a strong woman. And I would say to Michael Nguyen’s wife: continue to be strong,” said Huong Mai Ngo, the wife of former Vietnam prisoner Quan Quoc Nguyen.

“You have to be strong. And never give up