Vietnam: another blogger arrested over online criticism of government, house raided
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Jan 5, 2022
- Event Description
On January 5, authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh arrested local Facebooker Nguyen Duc Hung and charged him with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code with potential imprisonment of between seven and 12 years in prison, even to 20 years. Ha Tinh is the coastal province most affected by the waste dumping of Taiwan’s Formosa Steel plant in 2016 and Mr. Hung is among outspoken independent journalists about the environmental disaster. He was kidnapped by the local security forces when he was on his way to workplace.
Nguyen Duc Hung was accused of using social networks such as Facebook and Youtube to address the country’s issues such as land seizure, corruption, environmental pollution caused by industrial groups including Formosa, etc. He will be held incommunicado for at least four months, a common practice applied by Vietnam’s investigation agencies in so-called “national security” cases. Police have also conducted house searches and confiscated his laptops, cell phones and other personal items.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Judicial Harassment
- Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Online
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Right to liberty and security
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
Information provided by Defend the Defenders
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 18.34437684950074
Longitude: 105.90244051456159
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 5 January 2021, Nguyen Duc Hung, blogger, was arrested by the police and charged under repressive criminal provisions, and had his house raided and belongings confiscated for criticising the government in relation to a notorious environmental disaster in Ha Tinh Province, Viet Nam.