Bui Van Thuan’s wife received a letter from him for the first time since he was arrested on August 30 last year. Thuan said he’d had two shots of the Pfizer vaccine and was in generally good health due to regular exercise. But since last October he’s been having joint pains that doctors have looked at but couldn’t do anything about. Thus every 10 days or so he needs to take antibiotics and pain medication.

Later in the month, Trinh Nhung, Thuan’s wife, received a summons from the Thanh Hoa Police Department in order to discuss details related to the case of Bui Van Thuan, who allegedly stored documents and “items that oppose the state” on his computer.

Mr Thuan was arrested since Aug 2021. Since then, his wife Mrs Trinh Thi Nhung continued to update about his situation on social media and lodge grievance letters to authorities to demand that his rights are protected.

On 17 Mar [2022], Mrs Nhung was summoned by Thanh Hoa province police investigation bureau. In this working session, the police threatened her for fighting for her husband's rights.

Talking to RFA Viet, Mrs Nhung said:

'The investigators told me I should cut down on publishing articles about my husband on the net, they can arrest me any time, they said they had good basis to arrest me. They said I should not publish my police summon on the net, it was not a right thing nor a good thing for me to do.'

She said investigators had asked leading questions to her many times in the working session. They wanted her to confirm her husband's Fb account and her own Fb account, she refused and was again threatened of arrest.

'[Investigators] told me, for me to refuse to provide my private information and my husband's information meant I wasn't cooperative, they could arrest me for not cooperating with the investigation office.'

Before his arrest, Mr Thuan was known for his reports and comments about officials' power game with biting humour. Since his arrest, his family hasn't been allowed to contact him.