Vietnam: land rights defender arrested
Event- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 25, 2023
- Event Description
On 25 April, Mr Ta Mien Linh, born in 1945, of Vung Tau city, was prosecuted for 'abuse democratic freedoms' under sec 331 of the penal code, in relation to incidents in 2022, in Bac Giang province (North Vietnam).
Bac Giang police issued the prosecution order.
Mr Linh reportedly travelled from Vung Tau (South Vietnam) to Bac Giang from April to Aug 2022 to provide support for a group of residents of Chu Nguyen neighbourhood, Voi town, Lang Giang, Bac Giang province. They had contacted Mr Linh for legal advice, after their land had been forcefully confiscated by authorities. On Youtube, Mr Linh had accused Bac Giang officials of colluding with private businesses to confiscate the land of the people here at cheap prince, subdivided, then resold at much higher price, infringing the law.
Local officials said Mr Linh had engaged in illegal activities and he was not a real lawyer.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to liberty and security
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 21.279747721450555
Longitude: 106.20378422444611
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 25 April 2023, Ta Mien Linh, land rights defender and legal expert, was arrested by the police on his way to provide legal advice to a group of residents facing land eviction in Bac Giang Province, Viet Nam.