After two years and four months of being detained in the communist
prison, teacher Dinh Dang Dinh passed away on 3 April 2014 due to his
last-stage stomach cancer. The reason this chemistry teacher departed
his life aged only fifty has been thought to be due to both extremely
harsh prison conditions, and a lack of medical care. Regarding this, the
police deliberately delayed providing treatment when his cancer was
just in the initial stages.
During his last days on his sick bed, teacher Dinh Dang Dinh was certain
that his fatal illness was exacerbated by the cruel Communist prison
system. Teacher Dinh also suspected the possibility of poisoning whilst
he was imprisoned, which could have been responsible for the entire
destruction of his body.
From August to November 2012, in detention at the police prison in
Daknong, teacher Dinh discovered blood when he was toileting. When he
asked the prison authorities to have a medical examination in the
hospital, not only was his request was refused but he also was beaten,
and thrown back to the prison sick bay.
Video: Teacher Dinh Dang Dinh reveals incidences of poisoning and a police beating when he required a medical help in prison.
Below are his words about the possible poisoning through an interview with the Vietnamese Redemptorists’ News:
Teacher Dinh: In the prison they treated me extremely
badly. But there are two things I need to emphasize most because my time
and my health don’t allow me to talk more. First, it is about the
treatment of the sick in jail. In my case, from the day they arrested me
to the time I began to serve the prison term, they didn’t give me any
treatment. They didn’t begin treatment in time, and they didn’t give me
treatment from the very beginning of my health problems. That is
critical, in demonstrating the government’s policy of violating human
rights, showing its policy of torturing prisoners. This is the first
thing the community must pay attention to.
Secondly, I do not rule out the fact that I might be poisoned. I
discovered a strange smell in the prison food and water. As I am a
chemical engineer, I knew exactly that these chemicals are very
dangerous substances for the human body. But it was quite late when I
recognized the harm they had done to my body. They were the reason that
my kidneys were damaged. The poisonous substance was ammonium sulphate,
an ingredient they use in fertilizer. I don’t know if they did it
because they didn’t know, or whether they did it on purpose, or whether
the staff taking care of me put that substance in my water without
knowing it. From the day of my discovery I didn’t drink that water. I
took the water to my cell but I didn’t drink it.
Through an interview with journalist Truong Minh Duc, teacher Dinh told
him how he was beaten when he requested medical and health care:
Journalist Truong Minh Duc: Did they beat you in the detention centre or in the prison sick bay?
Teacher Dinh: That happened when I was in the detention centre
(In Daknong); I fought to be sent to the hospital for a medical check.
They did not let me go; they beat me instead, (after that) they threw me
into the sick bay of the centre.
Journalist Truong Minh Duc: Were you beaten by a prisoner or by prison officers?
Teacher Dinh: Police beat me. I asked to go to the hospital
because of my bleeding. I requested to see the supervisors but they
didn’t come. I then shouted out, asking to see them so I could get their
permission. I knocked on their door; at last they had to open it.
After they opened the door, half way from the prison cell to the sick
bay of the centre, they held me down and beat me, then threw me into
the sick bay.
*
Those responsible for leading Teacher Dinh Dang Dinh to his
heartbreaking death were none other than the Vietnamese Communist
government.
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