Nguyen Tri Gioan

January 2022:

Nguyen Tri Gioan, who was sentenced in November 2021 to seven years in prison for engaging in “anti-State propaganda,” has begun to serve his prison sentence—but in a location at least 300km from his hometown near Cam Ranh.

Nguyen Tri Gioan lives and works in Cam Thuan Ward, Cam Ranh City, Khanh Hoa Province.

Profile photo source: Khanh Hoa Online

Gioan has a considerable history involved in democratic activism. He participated in the demonstrations against the draft Law of Special Economic Zones, and he voiced his concerns and criticisms online against the Communist Party since 2018.  

A more detailed timeline of his activism is as follows:

February 2018: Gioan created a Facebook account and started posting commentary critical of the government. 

June 2018: He was detained and fined after participating in national protests in Ho Chi Minh City. He was fined 750,000 dong for “disturbing public order.”

August 2018: He was summoned by Khanh Hoa provincial police (Cam Ranh City) to discuss his Facebook posts. He was asked to remove the critical posts. He promised to do so, as well as stop posting, but he did not. 

In 2019, he created a new Facebook account for more posts.