Imprisoned human rights advocate and democracy campaigner Nguyen Van Tuc is being treated inhumanely by authorities of Prison camp No. 6 located in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province. The information came from his wife Bui Thi Re, who went to visit him on March 13. Mr. Tuc was convicted of subversion and sentenced to 13 years in prison last year for his peaceful activities. During the meeting, Mr. Tuc told his wife that he is placed in a cell together with a criminal convicted for drug trafficking. Encouraged by the prison's authorities, the criminal reportedly beat him very often in exchange of his sentence reduction. The former president of the unregistered Brotherhood for Democracy (BFD) said when his family sends food for him, the prison's authorities keep the food and give him only when it spoils. Mr. Tuc, 54, was arrested in September 2017 and charged with "carrying out activities aiming to overthrow the government" for his membership in the unregistered group Brotherhood for Democracy which was established by prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Van Dai. In the trial on April 10, 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison and five years under house arrest by the People's Court of Thai Binh province. Five months later, the Higher People's Court in Hanoi upheld his sentence. After losing his appeal, he was transferred to the current prison. He has been suffering a number of serious diseases, including hemorroids due to severe conditions in Vietnam's prisons and inhumane treatment against prisoners of conscience. His wife is not sure that he can survive to complete his sentence after being treated inhumanely by the prison's authorities. Inhumane treatment against prisoners of conscience is not rare in Vietnam where the ruling communist party is striving to keep the country under a one-party regime. Prisons' authorities are systematically applying tough measures, including solitary confinement, using criminals to beat prisoners of conscience, and tainted food to punish jailed activists to break their mentality. A number of imprisonedactivistshave been conducted hunger strike to protest prisons' inhumanetreatment, including Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay), Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (aka Mother Mushroom) and Nguyen Van Hoa, a citizen journalist. The first two were released but forced to live in exile in the US while the third reportedly started hunger strike in An Diem Prison camp on February 22 for many days.