Le Thanh Tung
Current Status: Sentenced to prison
Other Names: Lê Thanh Tùng
Date of Birth: 1968
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Veteran
Last Known Prison: Ba Sao prison, Nam Ha province
Details
Immediate Concerns
May 2020:
Veteran and political prisoner Le Thanh Tung’s wife has reported that Tung and other prisoners are enduring 100-degree temperatures in their cells at Nam Ha Prison. Tung has also been denied medication and letters sent by his family. Authorities ignored a petition from prisoners to repair broken fans at the prison. The event is reminiscent of an event at Prison No. 6 in Nghe An Province in the summer of 2019 when a handful of political prisoners went on a hunger strike for over 40 days to protest extreme heat in their cells.
August 2017:
Tran Anh Kim and Le Thanh Tung were moved to another prison farther from their homes (from Ha Nam to Thanh Hoa province). Their families were not informed of this transfer at the time.
BackgroundLa Thanh Tung is a veteran and has worked as a freelance journalist.
History of ActivismAfter leaving the military, Le Thanh Tung began to support those working against land and labor injustices and wrote on issues such as human rights and democracy. He was also a supporter of pro-democracy group, Bloc 8406. At the time of his second arrest, he was planning to establish a pro-democracy organization called the “National Force to Launch the Democracy Flag," along with Tran Anh Kim and four others he had not met in person.
In the years leading up to his 2011 arrest, he was detained by police in Hanoi 13 times.
Sentenced to 4 years in prison under Art. 88 (1999 Code). Released June 29, 2015.
December 1, 2011
- Art. 88 (1999 Code)
Viet Nam
August 11, 2012 - Date of trial
4 years in prison
December 1, 2015
June 29, 2015
Sentenced to 12 years in prison under Art. 79 (1999 Code). Expected Release is December 15, 2027.
December 15, 2015
- Art. 79 (1999 Code)
Viet Nam
December 16, 2016 - Date of trial
Vo An Don
12 years in prison
December 15, 2027
Details of Imprisonment
Actions Taken
First arrest:
Le Thanh Tung was detained in December 2011 and sentenced in a one-hour trial in August 2012 to five years in prison (later reduced to four) under Article 88 for his ties to Bloc 8406. He was released a five months early from prison, in June 2015, in what some believe was a political move.
Second arrest:
Le Thanh Tung was re-arrested in December 2015 and tried on December 16, 2016, in Thai Binh province, alongside Tran Anh Kim. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and four years of house arrest.
May 2017:
Kim and Tungs' appeals of their sentences were denied on May 26, 2017.
August 2017:
Tran Anh Kim and Le Thanh Tung were moved to another prison farther from their homes (from Ha Nam to Thanh Hoa province). Their families were not informed of this transfer at the time.
December 2016:
US Ambassador to Vietnam at the time, Ted Osius, expressed worries after Kim and Le Thanh Tungs' trial.