he Hanoi police have resumed investigation against blogger Le Anh Hung, taking him back to their temporary detention center from the city-based mental hospital.

According to the decision of the capital city’s Police Department on May 9, the compulsory mental treatment was stopped by the city’s People’s Procuracy on the same day and he was transferred back to jail on May 10 for further investigation on the allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.

The investigation is expected to end soon and the first-instance hearing will be carried out in coming months, according to his lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng.

Mr. Le Anh Hung, a political blogger of Voice of America, was arrested on July 5, 2018 for his postings on Facebook on which he accused many senior communist leaders of criminal activities and working for China against the country’s interests. Ten months later, on May 4, 2019, he was sent to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment.

He was reported not to agree with the treatment, denying to take medicines provided by the mental facility. However, he was beaten and forced to take medicines after being tied to his bed, according to his family.

Le Anh Hung was moved from the National Psychiatric Ward in Hanoi, where he was admitted in April 2019, and returned to prison last week so that the criminal prosecution against him could resume. A member of the Independent Journalist Association of Vietnam, Hung was arrested in July 2018 and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms.” However, he has yet to be tried. During his unusually long pre-trial detention period, now entering its fourth year, Hung has often complained of physical and psychological abuse and has had to go on several hunger strikes to protest the abuse.