On December 28, some famous Facebookers reported: Dissident writer Vu Thu Hien has returned to Vietnam after nearly 30 years living in exile abroad.
Writer Nguyen Quang Lap briefly reported:
“Night in the middle of the day, day in the middle of the night
Glad to welcome Vu Thu Hien home”
And attached to that status is a photo of writer Vu Thu Hien taken with his relatives in Saigon.
Lawyer Ho Minh Kinh has a long status about the intimate reunion between the lawyer and his friends, with writer Vu Thu Hien. The emotional meeting took place near Notre Dame Cathedral, District 1, downtown Saigon.
Writer Vu Thu Hien was born in 1933, now nearly 90 years old. He is the author of the famous memoir “Night in the middle of the day.” Thanks to his memoir and a number of works of other former Communists, the Vietnamese people know the cruel and dirty tricks of the Communist regime. Since then, many people have lost their loyality to the regime.
“Night in the middle of the day” tells the story of the “Case of Revision against the Party” – a case in which the Communists persecuted the Communists, which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. Both the writer himself and his father are victims in this case.
Writer Vu Thu Hien is the son of Vu Dinh Huynh and Pham Thi Te. Both of them were members of the Revolutionary Youth Comrade Association, the predecessor of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Vu Dinh Huynh used to be Ho Chi Minh’s personal secretary. His family used to be a breeding ground for Communist cadres since the French colonial period the Communist regime called “Pre-Uprising.” They used to have close relationships with many top leaders in the first generation of the Communist regime. However, when there was a conflict of political views, Communist leaders – who were once hailed as saints – still did not forgive those who were their comrades. In the “Revision Case,” Mr. Vu Dinh Huynh was arrested and held in solitary confinement for 5 years, from 1967 to 1972, then under house arrest for 3 more years in his hometown of Nam Dinh, until 1975, he was released to his family in Ha Noi. During this process, there was no arrest warrant, no court trial… all were oral orders from senior leaders.
Not only that, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam also arrested the son, writer Vu Thu Hien, after arresting the father for 2 months. Mr. Hien was arrested in the form of kidnapping while he was riding his bicycle on the streets of Hanoi to return home. Much later, his family found out the news. He was detained for 9 years, spent in Hoa Lo (Hanoi), But Bat (Son Tay), Tan Lap (Phu Tho) and Phong Quang (Hoang Lien Son) prisons. In Hoa Lo, he was locked in a private cell for four and a half years, without contact, without meeting anyone. Like his father, from his arrest in 1967 to his release in 1976, the authorities had no warrants for his arrest nor brought him to trial. They carried out his dention and released him when they wanted.
After being released from prison, the writer continued to be placed under oral probation by the government, until 1980, he was allowed to enter the South. In 1993, he went to Russia as a translator for an import-export company and then stayed in Moscow to work. During his time in Russia, he wrote a memoir “Night in the middle of the day” telling about his 9 years in prison, about the details related to the case, as well as the relationships within the Communist government.
Towards the end of 1995, he was attacked by a group of Vietnamese secret agents, so he sought to go to Poland and then seek political asylum in France. In April 1997, his memoir “Night in the middle of the day” was first published by the Quê Hương Publishing House in the United States. This work is very reflective, because it was written by a person from a family of great officials of the regime. Because of that, it exposes all the dirty faces of those who always pretend to be pious, who always call themselves gods.
In 2019, Vietnamese people first got a printed copy of this work by Leberal Publishing House – an uncensored publishing house. However, these books are still being searched everywhere by the Communist government.
At an age close to the earth and far from heaven and carrying many dangerous diseases in his body, writer Vu Thu Hien was finally able to return to his loved ones, returning to the country after 30 years of wandering. Congratulations to him and his family.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
