Read RFA coverage of this story in Vietnamese.
A prominent Vietnamese writer and karate artist who is hiding and wanted by police said Monday that authorities are harassing his family to try to find out his whereabouts.
Doan Bao Chau, 59, faces prosecution for Facebook posts and interviews with foreign media critical of the authoritarian state ruled by the Communist Party.
He fled earlier this year after police in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi showed him a request for his prosecution but assured him it was “not a problem.”
However, they have repeatedly harassed his family since he left, Chau said.
Chau, who gained fame after losing a friendly four-minute karate match with Canadian martial artist Pierre Francois Flores in 2017, said Hanoi police’s Security Investigation Agency had summoned him on June 21 about a crime report from the Cybersecurity and High-tech Crime Prevention Division.
During the meeting, a security officer showed Chau a document that prohibited him from leaving the country and a file with a request for his prosecution.
The officer said Chau allegedly created and disseminated information opposing authorities, insulting leaders, distorting facts, and causing public confusion through six videos. Most of the videos were of his interviews with activists about human rights or other pressing social issues. An interview he gave to BBC Vietnamese in 2016 was among the videos.
At the end of the meeting, a representative from the Security Investigation Agency told Chau the case against him was not serious and let him go home. But feeling that he might be in danger, Chau fled elsewhere to safety.
Second summons
Two months later, the police issued him a similar summons, but since he didn’t appear on the appointed date, they began searching for him.
“On the one hand, they said they would not pursue my case because it’s not serious,” Chau told Radio Free Asia. “On the other hand, they are hunting for me and harassing my family.”
Chau said police officers have frequently visited his home and called or summoned his wife to their headquarters to ask about his whereabouts.
In addition, investigators raided his brother’s and sister’s homes, suspecting he was hiding there. The police also contacted his son’s teachers and friends for information.
Nguyen Duc Hai, the investigation officer handling Chau’s case as noted in the summons, did not respond to RFA’s questions when asked to verify the information.
As police intensified their search for Chau in December, he re-shared the six video clips, which authorities consider “problematic,” on his Facebook account to assert his innocence.
Chau, who has 175,000 Facebook followers, was previously a photojournalist and contributor to various international newspapers. As an author, he has published six novels in Vietnam.
Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.