Nguyen Bao Tien
Nguyễn Bảo Tiên
Detainment Type: Sentenced to prison
Other Names: Nguyễn Bảo Tiên
Date of Birth: 1986
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Driver
Activist Focus:
- Freedom of expression
- Press
Details
Immediate Concerns
June 2022:
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued two separate opinions regarding the arrest and imprisonment of Chau Van Kham and Nguyen Bao Tien. The Vietnamese government was found to have violated multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the arrest and detentions of the two defendants.
BackgroundNguyen Bao Tien was born in 1986. He lives in Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province.
Profile photo: Nguyen Bao Tien during his arrest, Source: Cong an Phu Yen
History of ActivismTien has not been politically active. However, just like most victims of the Vietnam arbitrary judicial system, the court and the public security mentioned that Tien has for a long time shared “reactive” articles and Facebook posts to defame the Party and the State.
Sentenced to 6 years 6 months in prison under Art. 117 (2015 Code), Art. 305 (2015 Code). Expected Release is November 5, 2027.
January 21, 2022 - Date of trial
6 years 6 months in prison
November 5, 2027
Details of Imprisonment
According the official report of the Public Security and the People’s Procuratorate, Tien’s “criminal activities” included receiving six parcels containing books, including Chính trị bình dân (Popular Politics), Cẩm nang nuôi tù (A Manual for Vietnamese Prisons), and Phản kháng phi bạo lực (Non-violence Resistance). The government says that these books are reactionary and defamatory against the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Tien is also accused of “sending” 46 parcels to readers and customers who ordered these books. The Tuy Hoa Public Security discovered 38 books hidden in his house.
During their search, the police also found one grenade that he had kept since 2008 from a civil defense drill, unrelated to this case.
Several sources confirm that Tien’ house was searched on April 20, 2021. Others, citing the Liberal Publishing House, mentioned the possibility that Thang had been detained since October 2019 because at this point of time, the LPH lost communication with him.
On January 21, 2022, Tien was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for “storing, disseminating information, documents, items, publications and propagating against the State”, and another one year for illegal possession of explosive material.
Note: The 88 Project does not condone violence. However, in the absence of a free press environment, activists should be given the benefit of the doubt, and any accusation by the authorities against them should not be taken for granted.
ResourcesBắt tạm giam 1 người phát tán tài liệu chống phá Nhà nước, Tuoi Tre Online, May 5, 2021
Vietnam arrests banned book publisher's distributor, UCA News, May 5, 2021
Ông Nguyễn Bảo Tiên bị bắt vì 'phát tán' các ấn phẩm của NXB Tự Do, VOA Vietnamese, May 6, 2021
Phú Yên: Lãnh án tù vì chống phá Nhà nước, tàng trữ lựu đạn, Thanh Nien Online, January 21, 2022
Chống phá Nhà nước, đối tượng Nguyễn Bảo Tiên lĩnh án tù | Báo Dân trí, January 21, 2022
Phạt 6,5 năm tù đối tượng chống Nhà nước và chiếm đoạt vật liệu nổ, Công an Bình Định, January 21, 2022
Man imprisoned for anti-State propaganda, explosive storage | Society | Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus), January 21, 2022
Opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, June 2022
Profile last updated: 2024-06-13 20:34:07