Thai authorities have been investigating the disappearance of a Vietnamese dissident blogger believed to have been abducted from Bangkok last week as activists continue to review security camera footage from areas near the man’s home.
The Special Forces of Thailand’s Royal Police contacted Vietnamese-American human rights activist Grace Bui and other close friends of missing blogger Duong Van Thai on Thursday to learn more about the circumstances of his disappearance, Bui said.
Thai had been applying for refugee status with the United Nations refugee agency’s office in Bangkok. He fled to Thailand in 2019 fearing political persecution for his many posts and videos that criticized the Vietnamese government and leaders of the Communist Party on Facebook and YouTube.
Friends realized he was missing on April 13 after calls to his mobile phone that afternoon went unanswered. Police in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province announced on April 16 that he was in Vietnam. They said he had entered the country via trails on its border with Laos.
Thai’s friends have publicly claimed that he was likely kidnapped by Vietnamese security forces and brought back to Vietnam.
Another Vietnamese blogger, Truong Duy Nhat, was abducted from Bangkok as he was applying for refugee status in 2019. Activists have long believed that Thai police were involved in that case.
Bui said there was some initial suspicion that authorities in Thailand assisted in the kidnapping of Thai, but she now believes that isn't the case.
“I have spoken to the chief of Bangkok police, and he said he did not know anything,” Bui said. “I think Vietnam handled this case by themselves.”
BenarNews, an affiliate of Radio Free Asia, contacted Thailand’s deputy national police chief, the chief of the immigration bureau and the spokesman for the immigration bureau on Friday but didn’t immediately receive a reply.
RFA also attempted to contact the Thai Royal Police via email but have not received a response.
According to the Bangkok Post, Thai police have contacted Vietnamese authorities seeking information about the blogger but haven’t received any information.
Coffee in the park
Bui and friends reported the disappearance on Tuesday. Local authorities have since allowed them to collect footage from public security cameras in the areas where the blogger might have been on the day he went missing.
Bui said they have determined from the footage that Thai left his home the afternoon of April 13 to go to a nearby coffee shop. He bought two cups of coffee and went to a park inside Rajamangala Technology University’s campus north of Bangkok.
He drank coffee with Loc AnHa, a new friend who is also a Vietnamese refugee and who also is active on Facebook, Bui said. Thai headed in the direction of his rental home after leaving the park, she said.
RFA contacted Loc AnHa, whose real name is Nguyen Khac Dinh Loc. This person confirmed that the information provided by Bui was accurate.
Loc said Thai called and asked him to go to the park to escape from the heat and enjoy the breeze – something they had done together previously. The two drank coffee while Thai did a live-streamed video in which he talked about U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Bliken’s visit to Hanoi and the recent trial in Vietnam of another blogger, Nguyen Lan Thang, Loc said.
At around 5:30 p.m., Thai finished live-streaming and returned to his rental home. Loc told RFA that he stayed in the park for a while before leaving.
Loc, a religious activist from the southern Vietnamese province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, said he received the news of Thai’s disappearance as he waited for Thai to come to his home the next day. The two were planning to go to a market together, he said.
Vietnam authorities’ claim that Thai illegally entered Ha Tinh province from Laos was fabricated, Loc said. Thai did not intend to return to Vietnam and could not have traveled up to 920 kilometers by road from his place of residence to the Laos-Vietnam border within a day, he said.
‘Sets a grave precedent’
More than 300 Vietnamese refugees in Thailand signed a petition sent on Wednesday to the UNHCR’s office in Bangkok and to international rights organizations, urging them to investigate Thai’s case. The refugees also urged the U.N. to take measures to ensure their security and to speed up the process of resettling them in a third country.
RFA sent an inquiry by email to UNHCR's Bangkok office on April 20 but has not received a response.On Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists condemned the abduction and detention of Thai and called on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release him.
“Duong Van Thai’s abduction demonstrates the significant danger faced by Vietnamese journalists and sets a grave precedent for the safety of overseas media workers,” the group said in a statement. “Repressive and severe punishments in Vietnam for critical and independent journalism mean Thai will likely face persecution for his work.”
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcom Foster. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.