SLOVAK PEN CENTRE

Pri príležitosti novembrového Dňa väznených spisovateľov si PEN klub  pripomínal aj päťdesiat rokov činnosti  komisie Writers in Prison  Committee, ktorá pravidelne bojuje za slobodu slova a práva väznených  spisovateľov. Pri príležitosti kampane k 50. výročiu fungovania  členovia opäť adresovali mnoho listov a petícií za prepustenie  spisovateľov po celom svete a to najmä v oblasti Číny a Vietnamu, kde  sú ľudské aj autorské práva markantne porušované. Komuniké pod názvom  Päťdesiat rokov slobody prejavu prebrali mnohé mienkotvorné  internetové aj printové médiá po celom svete.  V prejave WiPC mapuje  situáciu vo svete, kde len v roku  2010 od januára do júna došlo k 587  prípadom väznenia, vrážd, či protiprávneho konania voči autorom,  poukazuje na neustálu potrebu boja za slobodu  a žiada solidaritu a slobodu s väznenými autormi.

50 YEARS of PEN WIPC worldwide activities and Day of Imprisoned Writer - Brief report on the participation of the Writers in prison Committee (CODEP/WIPC) of Suisse Romand PEN Centre.

To mark  the Day of Imprisoned Writer as well as the 50th anniversary of  the Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International that helps persecuted or imprisoned writers, our PEN Suisse romand WIPC Committee sent out letters to the editor and  press releases, as well as the Communiqué of  PEN International's President  on the eve of  the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Our communications were published in the dailies of French-speaking Switzerland, among them: Tribune de Gen´ve, Le Courrier et Le Temps.
Several books of writers in prison whose cases are monitored by PEN WIPC were   displayed at Geneva's International Press and Book Fair  held in April 2010. Letters and petitions addressed to Chinese and Vietnamese authorities demanding the release of  He Depu, Liu Xiaobo, Trân Khai Thanh Thuy and Pham Thanh Nghi´n, were signed by members of  PEN Suisse romand as well as hundreds of visitors at the Book Fair.
Our WIPC Committee translated into French and sent out to French-speaking PEN centres the speech given by  Marian Botsford Fraser before PEN International's Congress in Tokyo during the event commemorating the 50th  Anniversary of PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee.
Two Writers in Prison Bulletins in French were published and sent out online in May and in November  2010, to furnish further information about fifty years of PEN WIPC's work.  They  focused on  cases in China  (He Depu, Liu Xiaobo),  Viet nam (L´ Thi Công Nhân, Trân Khai Thanh Thuy, Nguy´n Van Ly),  Tunisia (Sihem Bensedrine), Turkey (the unending trial of editor Ragip Zarakolu) and Cuba (a liberation coupled with exile for a number of long term prisoners while 25 other journalists and librarians are still in prison).
During the Evening of Solidarity with the Writers in Prison of PEN Suisse Romand, we have read, in Vietnamese and in French, the poem Until When´ written in prison by Tran Khai Thanh Thuy. Later, at the literary evening organized by the Society of Writers of the United Nations in Geneva, the same poem was read in Vietnamese and in three official languages  of the PEN International French  - English and Spanish. Furthermore, participants listened to ''Until When´'', English version of the poem put into music by a Vietnamese composer - singer in exile.
Before closing our part in the information campaign about  WIPC's 50th Anniversary, our letter written in English under the heading of  ''Fifty Years for Freedom of Expression'' was picked up on the  website of ''OpenDemocracy.net'', ''PEN International with Fifty years for Freedom of Expression - World Day of Imprisoned Writer and Viet Nam'' on  ''IndiaTimes.com'', among others, while the original French text ''Cinquante ans pour la Liberté d'Expression'' can be read on Radio Canada's website as well as on the website of "Journées Mondiales." (World Day).
Fifty Years for Freedom of Expression In 2010, PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee celebrates 50 years of activities to defend freedom of expression around the world with a year-long campaign ''Because Writers Speak their Minds''. Members of PEN International (145 centres and more than 100 countries) are organizing anniversary events, exhibitions and campaigns to mark the event. And November 15, 2010, the traditional Day for the Writer in Prison will take place under the sign of solidarity and support towards all persecuted writers and journalists.
Women and men have been harassed, assaulted, tortured, imprisoned, deported or even murdered or forced to go into exile simply because of their writings or opinions. The Committee has the verified records of several hundred cases of attacks on writers and journalists during the last 12 months (587 cases of imprisonment, assaults and murders from January to June 2010). More than 200 of them are languishing in jail. Forty-one writers and journalists have been killed, murdered or missing: Brazil (4), Mexico (10), Kazakhstan (1), Bulgaria (1), Cyprus (1), Yemen (1), Russia (1), Nepal (1), Iraq (2), Iran (1),  Colombia (1), Ecuador (1), Turkey (1), Nigeria (3), Pakistan (4), Philippines (1), Rwanda(1), India (1), Greece (1), Indonesia (1), Belarus (1), Argentina (1),Guatemala (1).
This year, PEN International focuses our attention on 5 representative situations of repression without borders: Hossein Derakhshan, a Canadian-Iranian journalist and blogger (19  1/2  years in prison), Robert Mintya, an editor of  the Camerounese newspaper Le Devoir (detained and assaulted in prison); Jose Bladimir Antuna García, a crime reporter for the Mexican newspaper El Tiempo (assassinated in November 2009); Tal Al-Mallouhi, a Syrian poet and blogger (kept in secret detention without charge) and Dilmurod Saidov, an Uzbek independent journalist (12 years in prison).
Last September, PEN International's Congress in Tokyo, Japan, had  condemned the crackdown and threats against writers, journalists and human rights defenders in China, Tibet, Uygur's Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, Cuba, Iran, Mexico, Russia, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Turkey, Venezuela, Eritrea, Honduras, South Africa and Viet Nam. This last state is in fact the most oppressive of discreditable members of the French-speaking countries as regards freedom of expression and of the press. In Vietnam, to be a poet, a writer, a  independentjournalist or a human rights lawyer, is still a very dangerous profession. Several writers, journalists, bloggers, lawyers and human rights defenders were sentenced to lengthy prison terms (2-16 years), followed by sentences of probationary detention (1-5 years). Prisoners of conscience are deported to forced labour camps. They are held incommunicado, or into crowded unsanitary cells they share with hostile criminals. They are subject to physical attacks, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. They suffer from chronic illnesses and do not receive appropriate medical care and lack of basic hygiene. They are denied the right to receive family visits and medicine, because they refused to plead guilty, or they complained or began a hunger strike to protest against their deplorable conditions of detention.
A resolution on Vietnam adopted at the PEN International's Congress in Tokyo denounces orchestrated trials where the public is not given free access, independent observers are unable to witness on the spot and lawyer's rights cannot be upheld. PEN International protests also against the severe censorship of the media and on Internet, the destruction of hundreds of independent blogs and websites by the Public Security, the implementation of an arbitrary legislation to block access to public spaces that promote a culture of peace and human rights.
The list of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam proves inexhaustive. Let's mention some well known names: Trân Khai Thanh Thuy, poet, writer and journalist and cyberdissident, member of the Writers Union and the Club of Women Poets ofHanoi, Nguy´n Van Ly, a priest and editor of underground review Freedom of Opinion, Nguy´n Xuân Nghia, poet, novelist, journalist, member of the Writers Association of Hai Phong, co-editor of underground newspaper Fatherland and Truong Minh Duc, a anti-corruption journalist. Still yet, other writers, journalists, bloggers and lawyer defending human rights remain in prison: Nguy´n Phong, Nguy´n Binh Thanh, Nguy´n Van Dai, Trân Quôc Hi´n, Truong Quôc Huy, Pham Ba Hai, Nguy´n Van Hai (Di´u Cay ), Pham Thanh Nghi´n, Vu Van Hung, Ngô Quynh, Pham Van Trôi, Nguy´n Van Tuc, Trân Duc Thach, Nguy´n Van Tinh, Nguy´n Kim Nhan, Nguy´n Manh Son, Trân Huynh Duy Thuc (16 years in prison), L´ Thang Long, L´ Công Dinh, Nguy´n Ti´n Trung and Trân Kim Anh. Or, the Venerable Thich Quang Dô, 82-year-old, Buddhist monk and poet under house arrest since 2003. Most of these prisoners are in very poor health.
NGUY´N HO´NG BAO VI´T
Member of the
Writers in Prison Committee of PEN Suisse Romand Centre and Vietnamese writers
in exile Centre (CEVEX).