Vietnam has confirmed the arrest of the director of an independent think tank specializing in energy policy, state media reported on Sunday (October 1). Five other environmental experts have been detained in the country over the past two years.
On September 20, the NGO The 88 Project claimed that Ngo Thi To Nhien, head of the Vietnam Energy Transition Initiative (VIET, in English), had been placed in detention on the 15th of the month.
On Sunday, state media reported that police had issued an arrest warrant for her on September 20 for “appropriation of documents.”
“After Ngo Thi To Nhien was arrested, a number of foreign news agencies and exiled reactionary organizations reported the information, distorting it and slandering Vietnam,” the government spokesperson said the day before , To An Xo, confirming the arrest of the expert, again according to state media.
“In this regard, the Ministry of Public Security rejected the distorted allegations” that “Vietnam arrests environmental activists” and considers these statements as “an act of interference in Vietnam’s internal affairs,” he said. added the spokesperson.
Ngo Thi To Nhien has worked with several international organizations, including the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations. According to Vietnam’s penal code, she faces up to five years in prison.
Legal proceedings targeting activists
Two other people, Le Duc Anh and Duong Quoc Viet, were also arrested, the government spokesperson said.
According to The 88 Project, at the time of his arrest, Ngo Thi To Nhien was working to implement the fifteen billion dollar plan financed by a group of rich countries, including France, and international institutions to help Hanoi in its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
But Vietnam’s environmental ambitions are being called into question by these lawsuits targeting high-profile activists.
The announcement of the arrest of Ngo Thi To Nhien also comes after the Vietnamese justice system sentenced a leading environmental activist to three years in prison on September 28 for tax evasion. Hoang Thi Minh Hong’s sentence has been criticized, including by rights groups.
