Nguyen Van Dien

February 2023:

Nguyen Van Dien was released from prison, six months early, on Feb. 22. He will be on probation for another four years.

Dien told RFA he suffered extremely harsh treatment in Thanh Hoa Prison No. 5, including being kept in a windowless cell and experiencing long periods of solitary confinement for staging hunger strikes to protest the conditions.

Dien told The 88 Project that he had to sign a confession in 2020 in order to get the early release because “the pressure was too great.” Dien said that his aging parents were struggling without him and that his imprisonment was hard on his family economically. He was also very ill in 2018, and luckily survived, despite receiving limited medical care. He is now on a four-year probation and has to report to an officer regularly. He also had to promise not to violate the terms of his release, such as going outside permitted areas.

September 2019:

On September 24, 2019, Nguyen Thai Van, Nguyen Van Dien's father, told Radio Free Asia that Dien started a hunger strike on September 22, 2019. The reason for Dien’s hunger strike is to protest the maltreatment of the political prisoners. Van also told RFA that each month Dien is only permitted one meeting with his family, for one hour. This is Dien's second hunger strike in 2019; he staged one in July, also protesting prison conditions for political prisoners. 

Together with Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien is a leading member of Phong Trào Dân Tộc Chấn Hưng Nước Việt (“National Movement to Revive Vietnam”), which has as its principle the motto “Democracy, Progress, Humanity, Peace.” After the arrest of a founding member of the Movement, former political prisoner Lê Thăng Long, in Vietnam in a major political crackdown in 2009, Thuận and Điển fled to Malaysia, but they were arrested, deported back to Vietnam, and detained at the Detention Center 34 in Hồ Chí Minh city. Điển was then released, but Thuận was coerced into an internment at a mental hospital in Đồng Nai. After Thuận’s discharge from the hospital (year unknown), Điển and Thuận has been continuing to work together in their advocating efforts.

The duo have been producing and running a YouTube video channel through which Vũ Quang Thuận discusses political issues, advocates for the respect of human rights and democracy. The last video series they uploaded two days ago is entitled “Guide to Lawful Protest,” which could be one of the reasons that triggered their arrests.