Nguyen Anh Tuan

After the Dong Tam incident and the death of Le Dinh Kinh, Tuan tried to provide as much information as he could to inform the public about the Dong Tam land dispute and what happened on January 9, 2020. On the other hand, he also criticized the public security forces for carrying out an unlawful armed attack against the civilian residence and called for an independent investigation. 

Such expression of opinion was quickly considered “reactionary” by the security agencies, and the authorities started a mass media campaign to denounce and antagonize Tuan and many other activists, such as Trinh Ba Phuong.

On January 14, one day after the VTV’s “investigation” news aired nationwide, dozens of public security officers surrounded Tuan's apartment and also took over the control of the security office of the building. They called Tuan by phone and requested his immediate presence at No.3 Nguyen Gia Thieu street (the office of Security Investigation Agency, the Ministry of Public Security), or further action would be taken. When Tuan said that he was not in Ha Noi at the time, one friend of Tuan (Ta Manh Hung) was “invited” for a talk in a nearby coffee shop. The police also tried to follow Hung when he went back home to access the apartment, but Hung realized what they were doing and wandered around without going back home. In the evening, Tuan decided to ask for the help of the German Embassy in Hanoi, and after several hours, the group finally withdrew from his building.

After the Dong Tam incident and the death of Le Dinh Kinh, Tuan has tried to provide as much information as he can to inform the public about the Dong Tam land dispute and what happened on January 9, 2020. He also criticized the public security forces for carrying out an unlawful armed attack against the civilian residence and called for an independent investigation. 

Such expression of opinion was quickly considered “reactionary” by the security agencies, and the authorities started a mass media campaign to denounce and antagonize Tuan and many other activists, such as Trinh Ba Phuong.

Prior to his detention, Tuan had been summoned by the police many times. However, he traveled and moved around a lot so that he didn’t have time to be caught by the police. But on the morning May 22, 2020, he was forced to go to a police station. According to Tuan’s Facebook, he was questioned mostly about his involvement in the Dong Tam incident. He was released later in the afternoon of the same day.