Authorities in the northern province of Thai Binh sent a group of around ten policemen to station near the private residence of prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Tuc, effectively placing his family's member under house arrest from January January 4, his wife Bui Thi Re informed Defend the Defenders. The police blockage may be related to him who is serving his 13-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An, she said. Mrs. Re said her husband is under the prison's discipline due to his refusal to attend a political course of the prison which aims to force prisoners to study the communist party's policies. She said the prison's authorities are not happy with him as he has been denying to make confession and admit wrongdoings as the courts stated. In addition, he refuses to wear clothes of the prison which labels Ph?m Nh��n (person who commits criminal acts). She said police are still holding his VND2.53 million ($110) when he was arrested on September 1, 2017, and refused to return the money, saying he has to pay the appeal court's fee of VND400,000 first. Meanwhile, Mr. Tuc refused to pay the fee, arguing that he is innocent and has no obligation to pay. Mrs. Re said police als confiscated an ATM card with VND18 million of their son-in-law and still hold the card. 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. Speaking with Defend the Defenders on January 13, Mrs. Re said policemen stationed her her house in one week and left on January 11. She urged human rights groups to pay attention to her husband.