

'I don't want him to die there': Son of NSW retiree imprisoned in Vietnam speaks out

The family of an Australian man jailed in Vietnam for 12 years fear the sentence will kill him as they begin a last-ditch battle to have him freed.
Last week, 70-year-old Sydney retiree Chau Van Kham was sentenced to 12 years in a Vietnamese prison.
"It was devastating," his youngest son Dennis Chau told 9News.
"I don't want him to die there."
NSW retiree Chau Van Kham's family is gravely concerned for his physical and mental wellbeing after a Vietnamese court sentenced him to 12 years in prison. (Supplied)
Dennis, who lives in London, only learned of his father's arrest when he phoned home on his birthday in January.
"Mum tried to hide it from me," he said. "She was still very distressed."
Eventually his older brother Daniel explained everything: their father had been arrested several weeks earlier during a research trip to Vietnam on charges relating to his membership of Viêt Tân, a democracy and human rights activist group the Vietnamese government has labelled a"terrorist" organisation but which the UN has described as "peaceful".
Almost all contact to Mr Chau was blocked. Monthly consular visits, drop-offs of medicine and cash from a sister, and a single half-hour meeting with his lawyer have been his only contact with the outside world – meetings Dennis said were "all recorded and quite heavily guarded".
"The family remains gravely concerned," the family's Australian solicitor, Dan Nguyen, told 9News.
"Unless the (Australian) government speak up to assist, Mr Chau will not survive the 12-year sentence." 
The Chaus met and married in Australia. Dennis Chau describes his parents, who ran a laundromat and then a bakery together, as 'workaholics'. (Supplied)
Dennis's mother, Quynh Trang Truong, has been trying to keep up a brave face for her children. But cut off from her husband, Trang has suffered from social isolation and financial stress, especially after the government stopped Mr Chau's pension. "They did everything together," Dennis said of his parents.
"She's never really used the internet, for example. It's very hard for her."
The one letter Dennis tried to send his father was rejected by prison officials without explanation, and the only time the family has seen him is in two images recently released to the public: one of Mr Chau speaking at his trial and one of him being taken away.
Human rights advocates believe Mr Chau's arrest is part of a broader clamp-down on government opposition in Vietnam.
"He has been incarcerated on bogus, politically-motivated charges," Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.
Chau Van Kham being escorted on the day of his trial, and standing in court: the only images his family has seen of him since his arrest in January 2019. (AAP)
Mr Chau's first consular visit since the trial is scheduled for today. The family hopes he can lodge an appeal before the deadline of Monday.The family has made repeated appeals to Australian officials – including Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne – requesting urgent intervention to reduce Mr Chau's sentence.
He requires care for existing medical conditions including a prostate problem and high blood pressure. Dennis said it feels like "the government don't want to get involved at all".
Dennis Chau will now need to send savings home to his mother in Australia, as his father's pension has been cut off by the Australian government. (Supplied)
Mr Morrison commented publicly on the case whilst in Hanoi in August, saying "Australians need to abide by the laws of the countries which they visit".
Ms Payne told the ABC last week that "it would be inappropriate, and not in Mr Chau's best interests, to comment while legal processes remain available".
Dennis told 9News Mr Morrison's statement was "very poor and weak", and that he thought the government's position was "a cop-out"
."Vietnam and Australia do have a trading relationship," he said. "It's just politics, that the government isn't able to do anything."
"There is no reason why the government cannot speak up to protect its citizen in this case," Mr Nguyen said.
Mr Chau arrived in Australia in 1983, fleeing Vietnam after fighting on the side of the US-backed South Vietnamese administration against the Communist government and spending several years in a re-eduction camp. He met and married Trang in Australia and the "workaholics" went on to run a laundromat together, and then a bakery.
Dennis said his "happy, upbeat, very chatty" father rarely mentioned his experiences from the war.
"The only thing he's talked about was the boat ride over that took a number of days, and how a bunch of people got sick and didn't make it," he said.
Chau Van Kham on his first trip to Europe. (Supplied)
Dennis plans to visit his father about March when the appeal process is completed.His Sydney-based brother hopes to visit sooner, though it's not known if they'll be allowed.
"We're trying to spread it out, so he keeps his morale high."
Meanwhile, the family continues to rely on brief consular reports and "bland" scanned letters to gauge their father's state of mind, as they prepare for Christmas without him.
"(The letters are) mainly in Vietnamese and to my mum, but usually it's just about 'keep up good spirits', that sort of stuff. He's not able to talk about too much because it's all filtered through the prison system.
"I think if he knew what people were saying, he'd be proud he was trying to make a difference. But also guilty that his wife isn't coping."

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