Truong Minh Duc

Authorities announced they finished investigations into several members of the Brotherhood for Democracy, a group founded by lawyer Nguyen Van Dai that was targeted with harassment and arrests during much of 2017. Authorities recommended that Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Bac Truyen, Truong Minh Duc, Nguyen Van Dai, and Le Thu Ha be prosecuted. 

April 2018:

On April 5, in a one-day trial, six activists, whose backgrounds range from defending religious freedom, to environmental rights, to multi-party democracy, were sentenced to a combined 66 years in prison and 17 years of house arrest under Article 79 of the 1999 Criminal Code. Five of the activists are key members of the pro-democracy group, The Brotherhood for Democracy. All have been known to support political prisoners and their families and advocate for human rights. Truong Minh Duc was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of house arrest.

June 2018:

Three Brotherhood for Democracy members – Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc, and Pham Van Troi– as well as religious freedom activist Nguyen Bac Truyen, had their appeals denied on June 4.

July 2018:

Authorities transferred Truong Minh Duc to a prison far from home, and his family was not notified in advance of the move. This is an unjust but common tactic used to isolate prisoners from support networks. Duc was transferred from detention center B14 in Hanoi to prison No. 6 in Thanh Chuong, Nghe An province.

February 2019:

Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh was temporarily detained while traveling. She is the wife of Truong Minh Duc. She traveled to Germany to visit her relatives on January 6, 2019 and returned to Vietnam on February 21. At 7:55 am, Thanh made a phone call to her family and informed them that police “invited” her to work with them at the airport. Police finally released her at 1:00 pm after confiscating her passport. This detention might be because of her advocacy for her husband during her trip in Germany. 

June 2019:

On June 20, Nguyen Kim Thanh, Duc's wife, went to visit him at prison camp No. 6 in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province. At the visit, Duc was having trouble walking and holding his head up. He reported extreme heat in the cells, and no fans. Duc said many prisoners got together and filed a request to demand new fans, but the prison authorities refused and gave them different excuses. Duc also said that the inmates were willing to pay for the electric bill just to have the fans put back in. Thanh told the prison guards that the family would buy a fan, but at that point the guard stopped her from discussing the problem further. Due to this issue, several political prisoners started a hunger strike to demand better conditions.

Update: As of June 30, 2019, The political prisoners in Prison No. 6, Thanh Chuong, Nghe An, including Truong Minh Duc, Dao Quang Thuc, Nguyen Van Tuc, were on their 19th day of a collective hunger strike. Nguyen Kim Thanh, Truong Minh Duc’s wife, asked everyone to speak up against the cruel treatment by the authorities in Prison No. 6. Duc also asked all embassies and human rights organizations, overseas and inside Vietnam, to speak up to improve the conditions in all the prisons in order to save these prisoners of conscience’s lives. Read our full report on their situation here.

An urgent appeal petition received over 1200 signatures from civil society groups and supporters. The updated list of signatories and related public actions for prisoners on hunger strike is available on the Facebook group Tuyet Thuc Vi Tu Nhan Luong Tam (“Hunger Strike for Prisoners of Conscience”), run by the drafters of the Urgent Appeal. Read more, here.

On July 9, 2019, Nguyen Kim Thanh flew from Binh Duong Province to Hanoi to meet representatives of the embassies of the US, Australia, and the EU to advocate for her husband and the other prisoners on hunger strike. Thanh underwent uterine fibroids surgery on June 28, 2019 and her health was unstable. On July 11, UCA News reported that “the diplomats are said to have accepted that the situation is a matter of urgency and also expressed a willingness to raise with the Vietnamese government wider issues relating to prison conditions.”

On July 12, 2019, a group of 20 family members and supporters was physically attacked by thugs who they believe to be plain-clothing prison officers and public security officers. Activist Trinh Ba Phuong, son of former political prisoner Can Thi Theu, told VOA Vietnamese that the group was on its way to Camp 6 with some posters solely to visit and support prisoners such as Truong Minh Duc. When the visitors group tried to approach Camp 6 by car, a truck seemed to purposely park to block the road, so they decided to walk the rest of the way. This is where the attack took place. Activists were physically assaulted and their belongings, including money, phones, and personal documents, were taken by the attackers. Read the detailed report on Defend the Defenders here. Some footage of the attacked can be seen on Trinh Ba Phuong’s Facebook.

Nguyen Kim Thanh made it to Camp 6, but prison authorities refused to let her see her husband, and sent her out of the facility. Thanh and friends who came with her to the prison camp, including Le Thi Muoi, wife of political prisoner Luu Van Vinh, were also attacked outside of the camp. Duong Thi Tan, who accompanied Thanh and then returned to find the other group under attack, was also reportedly seriously assaulted by thugs on the way.

At the end of July, Thanh did not receive the monthly call from her husband. Prison No. 6 usually allowed Truong Minh Duc to call home from the 20th to 25th of each month. 

July 2019:

The political prisoners in Prison No.6, Nghe An province, stopped their hunger strikes after having been allowed to call home. Their families confirmed the information after visiting the prison on July 29. Dao Quang Thuc, Nguyen Van Tuc, Truong Minh Duc, and Tran Phi Dung had been protesting prison conditions, stemming from the prison authorities' refusal to provide fans during a recent heat wave. Prisoners in other prisons also had joined them in solidarity. They ended the strike on July 21, after being on strike since June 10; the prison finally provided them with fans. However, they were prepared to resume striking if they are denied their legal right to call home in future months.

And indeed, troubling incidents persist at Prison No. 6 even after the end of the hunger strike. On August 2, 2019, Mrs Kim Thanh, wife of political prisoner Truong Minh Duc, met her husband in prison. The meeting was shortened to half an hour, instead of an hour as normal. The procedures for visiting were abnormally long and under tight control. They were allowed to talk to each other only through phones behind glass. The meeting was suddenly interrupted after 10 minutes. Mrs Thanh said that during the meeting, she told Duc about her incident on July 12 after trying to visit him, and suddenly a prison officer stopped the phone call. Mr Duc was angry and beat the phone against the table. Immediately, he was warned that he would be disciplined for damaging public assets.

Update, August 6: On August, 6, 2019, Nguyen Kim Thanh, Duc's wife, posted on Facebook to express her worry about Duc after authorities threatened punishment from her August 2 meeting with Duc, which was interrupted was prison officials. 

September 2021:

Truong Minh Duc was finally able to call home for 10 minutes, as allowed by the law. He told his wife that prisoners had not received any covid vaccines and he did not know if or when he would be inoculated. Duc said he was running low on medication for his heart condition and asked her to send him more once the lockdown is lifted. He said further that he has not received any of the letters that his wife sent to him, and she said that she has not received any of the letters he sent home.