Cao Thi Cuc

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 were held for two months of pre-trial detention. 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 religions and charitable activities for their own benefits. 

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 were reported that the arrests bewildered them. 

On March 07, the 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 to extend 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 one more time 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 the 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.”