Le Quy Loc

September 2023:

Le Quy Loc finished his prison sentence and was released on Sept. 9. A taxi driver, Loc was a member of the now-defunct Constitution Group (Hien Phap), which advocated for democratic changes. Arrested in September 2018, Loc was not allowed to see a lawyer until November 2019. He was eventually convicted of creating a “public disturbance” (Article 118) and sentenced to five years in prison plus three years of probation; however, Loc’s wife told Project 88 that his probation period is now only two years.

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Update: interview with Le Quy Loc

Ngo Van Dung told Project 88 that in early 2020, he and his co-defendant Le Quy Loc went on a hunger strike to demand better treatment at their pre-trial detention center. After seven days, Dung said Loc was taken outside and beaten. After Dung protested that abuse, about 20 men took him outside and beat him unconscious. Dung says he woke up bleeding with several head wounds. He and Loc were also shackled for seven days. Dung filed a complaint to the Procuracy on April 12, 2020, but no representative checked on him until 40 days later, after his wounds had healed. After the visit, the prison authorities issued a note stating that his health was “perfectly fine!” When Dung was released, prison officials refused to let him take with the 451 poems and songs he had written while behind bars.

Speaking separately to Project 88 and corroborating Dung’s account of the events in early 2020, Le Quy Loc also told Project 88 that in April 2020 he was severely beaten at the Phan Dang Luu Detention Center by an officer named Le Van Nguon, who set a book on his back and used a hammer to pound on the book until he spit out blood. Loc said that Nguon also used a flashlight with a pointed tip to hit him on the head and pierce his body until it bled. When Loc yelled out to the other prisoners that he was being assaulted, Nguon and several others started to punch and kick him, sending him flying against an iron door, which knocked him unconscious. In April 2021, Loc was sent to Chi Hoa Hospital for two weeks. After he came back, he was shackled for seven days straight, and was not allowed to go out to go to the toilet. Loc remained on a hunger strike on and off to protest the mistreatment, and continued to receive abusive treatment throughout his time in prison. Loc was released on Sept.14; he has not had a chance to have a health checkup.

January 2022:

Le Quy Loc was beaten by prison guards at the An Phuoc Detention Center last May for asking to be allowed to play sports, as guaranteed by law. Loc was said to have gone on an eight-day hunger strike to protest the beating that left his face badly bruised. The news of his alleged torture was only later revealed.