Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen
Lê Thanh Nhất Nguyên
Detainment Type: Sentenced to prison
Other Names: Lê Thanh Nhất Nguyên
Date of Birth: 1991
Gender: M
Religion: Buddhist
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Religious leader
Known Prison(s):
Long An detention center, Long An province (July 21, 2022 - present)
Activist Focus:
- Religious freedom
Details
Immediate Concerns
November 2022:
As expected, the appeal trial for six defendants from Bong Lai Temple resulted in no change to their prison sentences: five years for 90-year-old headmaster Le Tung Van; four years each for Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen,32, Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen 31, Le Thanh Trung Duong 27; three and a half years for Le Thanh Nhi Nguyen, 34; and three years for Cao Thi Cuc, the 62-year-old landlady who has stage-four cancer. All were convicted of “abusing democratic freedoms.” Before the appeal trial took place, the prosecution announced that a new charge of “fraud and theft of property” would be added against the defendants. According to a video recording from the two-day trial, defendants were repeatedly cut off by the judge during their closing statements.Last but not least, test results of DNA samples from members of Bong Lai Temple – illegally obtained, according to their lawyers – were not introduced at the trial.
July 2022:
On July 21, Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Duc Hoa District, Long An Province.
Six Bong Lai Temple members – allegedly forced to confess under coercion – were sentenced to a total of more than 23 years in prison for “abuse of democratic freedom." After the trial, another temple member was charged. Le Thu Van, 67, is going through her last-stage cancer treatment and is not expected to survive. Nonetheless, a warrant was issued for her arrest. The group’s lawyers helped bring the severely ill Thu Van to court and got permission to bring her back to the hospital.
BackgroundLe Thanh Nhat Nguyen is a monk at the Tinh That Bong Lai Buddhist monastery.
Note: We've listed the religion in this profile as "Buddhist" due to the activist's self-identification, but we note that the Buddhism practiced in this case is Buu Son Ky Huong, a more informal, cultural interpretation of Buddhist belief.
Profile photo source: Radio Free Asia
History of ActivismNhat Nguyen lives and practices Buddhism at the Tinh That Bong Lai monastery.
Sentenced to 4 years in prison under Art. 331 (2015 Code). Expected Release is January 4, 2026.
July 21, 2022 - Date of trial
- Ngo Thi Hoang Anh
- Dao Kim Lan
- Trinh Vinh Phuc
- Dang Dinh Man
- Nguyen Van Mieng
4 years in prison
January 4, 2026
Details of Imprisonment
On November 5, 2021, Nguyen Tien Trong, the Deputy Head of the Vietnam Government Committee for Religious Affairs (GCRA), in a regular conference press of the Internal Affairs, said there were signs that people at the Tinh That Bong Lai took advantage of religion to further their own interests.
On January 4, 2022, Tinh That Bong Lai was searched, and 14 people of the monastery were summoned for further investigation, among them Le Tung Van and his three disciples Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen (D.O.B 1990,) Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen (D.O.B 1991,) and Le Thanh Trung Duong (D.O.B 1995). The other people were released after the investigation, while Van is in pre-trial detention at home and banned from leaving the residential place, and the three disciples have been arrested. According to State media, at the time the search took place, there were eight “orphans" living at the monastery, six of whom were with their mothers.
On January 7, 2022, State media officially announced that Le Tung Van and his three disciples were charged under Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms.” To be more specific, the case was brought to light after the government received numerous citizen complaints saying the headmaster(s) of the Tinh That Bong Lai took advantage of religion and charitable activities for their own benefit.
The four men were initially charged with “incest,” “fraud,” and “abusing religious freedom.” However, the first two charges were dropped after a public uproar over suspicions that this was a government land grab in disguise.
On January 10, 2022, one of the lawyers for Le Tung Van reported that he tried three times to meet his client at the temple but was denied each time by public security police from Long An province. Although Van had been released to home detention, he had not been allowed to see his lawyers.
On January 14, 2022, Colonel Van Cong Minh stated that the police were “still working with the Procuracy and the People’s Court” to finalize the case against Van.
On January 21, 2022, the lawyers confirmed that they finally met with Le Tung Van at the monastery. One of the lawyers, Dang Dinh Manh, said that the internet connection of the Tinh That Bong Lai was cut during and after the search of Tinh That Bong Lai on January 4, which was completely unlawful. Van and people living there reported that the arrests bewildered them.
On March 07, Tinh That Bong Lai was searched once again in order to “clarify other charges committed by associated people living at the monastery.”
A week later, the public security announced an extension of the pre-trial detention time of Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen, Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen, and Le Thanh Trung Duong to April 04, 2022.
On April 26, 2022, the Long An province public security once more extended the pre-trial detention of the defendants to June 3, 2022. Shortly after that, two other members of the Tinh That Bong Lai were arrested.
On May 12, 2022, the public security arrested Cao Thi Cuc (D.O.B 1960), the landlord of Tinh That Bong Lai. She was also charged under Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms”. On May 15, the public security of Long An publicly accused Cao Thi Cuc of being “the ringleader of the Tinh That Bong Lai group, along with Le Tung Van,” according to State media.
On May 27, 2022, the authorities arrested the sixth member of the monastery, Le Thanh Nhi Nguyen (D.O.B 1998), a monk, under the same Article 331 of “abusing democratic freedoms.”
ResourcesTịnh Thất Bồng Lai có dấu hiệu 'lợi dụng tôn giáo' để trục lợi, VNEpress, November 5, 2021
Khởi tố vụ án liên quan đến 'Tịnh Thất Bồng Lai' ở Long An, Phap Luat Ho Chi Minh City, January 4, 2022
Điều tra sai phạm tại tịnh thất Bồng Lai, VNExpress, January 4, 2022
3 người tại tịnh thất Bồng Lai bị bắt, VNExpress, January 7, 2022
Long An: four men prosecuted for abusing rights to freedom and democracy, Vietnam Plus, January 7, 2022
Vụ Tịnh Thất Bồng Lai: Công an ngăn cản đăng ký thủ tục luật sư và tiếp cận thân chủ, Radio Free Asia Vietnamese, January 10, 2022
Công an: Tịnh Thất Bồng Lai bị điều tra vì có nhiều đơn tố giác của dân, Radio Free Asia Vietnamese, January 14, 2022
Công an Long An nói về việc điều tra vụ án ở Tịnh thất Bồng Lai, Zing News, January 14, 2022
Vụ Tịnh thất Bồng Lai: Năm luật sư bào chữa tiếp cận được ông Lê Tùng Vân, Radio Free Asia Vietnamese, January 21, 2022
The Case Of Tinh That Bong Lai Temple: What You Need To Know, Jason Nguyen, The Vietnamese, July 15, 2022
Tinh That Bong Lai Practitioners Sentenced To Combined More Than 23 Years In Prison, Jason Nguyen, The Vietnamese, July 23, 2022
Coercion claims as Vietnam jails 6 in crackdown on religious group, Radio Free Asia, July 22, 2022
Bị cáo buộc ‘không oan,’ 6 người vụ Tịnh Thất Bồng Lai y án tù, Nguoi Viet, November 3, 2022
Profile last updated: 2024-06-13 20:34:07