Nguyen Dang Vu is a human rights defender who regularly posts articles on Facebook denouncing human rights violations by the Vietnamese authorities and calling for multi-party democracy in the country. He also advocates for the rights of the poorest and against child abuse. Nguyen Dang Vu took part in several peaceful demonstrations on environmental rights. He was arrested while protesting in Ho Chi Minh City against the consequences of the Formosa spill disaster in April 2016, and was also beaten by thugs twice in 2016, in attacks considered to be linked to his activism. On 8 June 2017, in the afternoon, Nguyen Dang Vu was arriving in Buon Ma Thuot, in Vietnam's Central Highlands province of Dak Lak to meet with local activists when plainclothes police officers arrested him and brought him to the police station in Tan Lap district. There, he was kept in detention for more than 30 hours, without any food, and repeatedly beaten in the stomach, resulting in injuries. His belongings and cell phone were confiscated. He was then forced to take the bus back to Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of 9 June 2017.