Vietnam authorities accused of cheating eviction victims

UCA News reporter, Ho Chi Minh City

Eviction victims are prevented from attending a March 15 meeting about their land dispute. (Photo supplied)

Eviction victims in southern Vietnam feel cheated by local government authorities who allowed only a few people to attend a meeting over a land dispute.

On March 15, dozens of representatives of over 100 households, who claim their properties were illegally destroyed and grabbed three years ago by district authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, were prevented from meeting with authorities at the headquarters of the People's Committee of Tan Binh district.

The building was closely guarded by security officers, plainclothes police and militia who videoed and thoroughly checked the representatives.

Cao Ha Truc, one of the victims, said they were bitterly upset with the district officials who had invited only some people among the victims to attend a meeting presided over by Nguyen Ba Thanh, head of the district.

Truc said only five of the invited people were allowed to enter the meeting room. He said two lawyers — Nguyen Van Mieng and Trinh Vinh Phuc, who provide legal support for the victims — were also stopped from attending the meeting.

The government authorities do not have a goodwill gesture to deal with our complaints and we do not know what their tricks are when they divide us into groups. All of us leave the headquarters without meeting them as a way to oppose them, he said.

If the government authorities want to deal with the case properly, they should invite all of the victims, not some individuals, to work with them  

He said this was the first time local government officials had officially invited local people to meet with them since they destroyed 503 houses and crops in Loc Hung Vegetable Garden covering an area of 4.8 hectares in early 2019.

Before that, local people filed a lot of complaints with central government agencies and the city government to protest the land grabbing and seek proper compensation.

Nguyen Thi Thuy Phuong, an eviction victim, said her family worked on their land for half a century but they were not invited to attend the meeting.

If the government authorities want to deal with the case properly, they should invite all of the victims, not some individuals, to work with them, she said.

A woman who had her land seized said they asked the government to grant them ownership of the garden as they had used the land for generations since their ancestors moved from northern dioceses in 1954, when northern Vietnam was controlled by communists. They did not have any disputes with other people over the land for decades.

Lawyer Phuc said local officials had made ghastly mistakes when they broke down 503 houses and destroyed crops on the garden owned by 124 households with some 1,000 people

She accused the government of depriving them of legal ownership of the land, destroying all their property and leaving them homeless. She said it was unfair that the government claimed their land was public land and planned to build public facilities.

Some legal experts said the city government should seek another way to deal with the seized garden as it is unfair that Tan Binh district authorities, who destroyed the garden, now handle the case.

Lawyer Phuc said local officials had made ghastly mistakes when they broke down 503 houses and destroyed crops on the garden owned by 124 households with some 1,000 people. The victims have become homeless, lost their incomes and have complained to the government for years.

He said government agencies are failing to resolve their complaints and ignoring their suffering.