Profile

Nguyen Duc Hung

Nguyễn Đức Hùng

Detainment Type: Sentenced to prison

Photo of Nguyen Duc Hung

Other Names: Nguyễn Đức Hùng

Date of Birth: January 5, 1991

Gender: M

Religion: Christian

Ethnicity: Kinh

Last Known Prison: Nam Ha prison, Ha Nam province

Activist Focus:

  • Public health
  • Anti-corruption
  • Democracy
  • Environment
  • Freedom of expression
  • Human rights
  • Land rights
  • Police Brutality
  • Press
  • Religious freedom

Details

Immediate Concerns

March 2024:

It has been 18 months since Nguyen Duc Hung was put in solitary confinement at Nam Ha Prison, his brother Nguyen Duc Ho told Project88 on March 15. Since that time, Hung’s father has only been allowed to see him once, in December of last year. In August, when Nguyen Duc Sen tried to bring his son some supplies, he was told that Hung could not receive them because he was still in solitary confinement for violating prison rules. Prison officials said it was because Hung tried to buy food from fellow inmate Le Dinh Luong, who’s serving a 20-year sentence. After the December visit, the family learned that Hung was not permitted to wear his wire-rimmed eyeglasses nor have 10-minute phone calls per month as allowed by law.  Hung has reportedly asked his family to hire two lawyers for him.

January 2024:

Project88 has learned more about the case of an activist arrested two years ago. According to Nguyen Duc Hung’s brother, Nguyen Duc Ho, Hung was kidnapped by police while traveling from Ha Tinh province to Binh Thuan province on Jan. 1, 2022. It wasn’t until one month later that the family received an official notice that Hung had been detained. He was tried in July 2022 without a lawyer. The family was not notified of the trial and only learned about it afterwards from state media. Since Hung’s arrest, his family has been allowed to visit him only once, in February 2023.

Former political prisoner Nguyen Viet Dung, who saw Hung a few times while they were at Nam Ha Prison together, told Project88 that Hung is a very strong-willed individual who was allegedly often put in solitary confinement for very trivial reasons simply because prison guards wanted to break him. An active human rights defender and outspoken critic of the government, Hung was sentenced in July 2022 to five and a half years in prison for spreading “anti-state propaganda.”

Background

Nguyen Duc Hung lives in Ky Anh Town, Ha Tinh Province. He works as a consultant for Siberian Wellness in Vietnam, an international corporation specializing in nutrition, cosmetics, and care products.

Profile photo source: Facebook Nguyễn Đức Hùng

History of Activism

According to State media, from 2016 to 2021, Nguyen Duc Hung had compiled, posted, and shared via Facebook a lot of articles, photos, and video clips with content that propagandized a distorted image of the people’s government, and offended Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese Communist Party leaders, and State leaders. Hung was accused of spreading fake news and causing a panic among Vietnamese people.

Sentenced to 5 years 6 months in prison under Art. 117 (2015 Code). Expected Release is July 6, 2027.

January 6, 2022
  • Art 117
Provincial/city
Ky Phuong Ward, Ky Anh Town (map)
July 13, 2022 - Date of trial
None -- no legal representation
5 years 6 months in prison
July 6, 2027
Details of Imprisonment

The arrest document showed that Nguyen Duc Hung was arrested on January 6, 2022. Yet his arrest was not officially announced by the Ha Tinh Province Public Security Newspaper until January 15. He was temporarily detained for investigation for four months. Hung was accused of conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code. 

From what we read on Nguyen Duc Hung's Facebook accounts, he raised his voice to criticize the government for human rights violations and injustices such as the Thien An Abbey's land grab issue, the wrongful conviction of Ho Duy Hai, the failure of governmental public policies to fight against Covid, and other issues.

**

July 2022:

Nguyen Duc Hung was sentenced on July 13 to five and a half years in prison for “anti-state propaganda” in an “open trial” that his family did not know about until they read about it in the newspaper. According to a well-known lawyer, Vietnamese laws only require the state to notify a defendant’s lawyer, not their family, of the trial date. 

Resources

Công an Hà Tĩnh: Khởi tố và tạm giam đối tượng tuyên truyền chống phá Nhà nước, Ha Tinh province public security, January 15, 2022

Hà Tĩnh: Bắt tạm giam bị can tuyên truyền chống phá Nhà nước, Ha Tinh Newspaper, January 15, 2022

Bị bắt vì đăng Facebook nói xấu lãnh đạo Đảng, Nhà nước, RFA Vietnamese, January 15, 2022

Tín hữu công giáo ở Hà Tĩnh bị bắt giam vì ‘tuyên truyền chống nhà nước’, VOA Vietnamese, January 18, 2022

Vietnamese Facebook activist’s family speak out about his ‘secret trial’, Radio Free Asia, July 18, 2022

Vietnam holds political prisoner in solitary confinement for 18 months, RFA Vietnamese, March 13, 2024

Interviews, January 2024

Profile last updated: 2024-06-13 20:34:07

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