Key Events
- Việt Nam to Try Jailed Human Rights Activist Trịnh Bá Phương Sept. 20 on “Anti-State” Charges;
- Concerns Mount as Hồ Sỹ Quyết Vanishes Following Reported Police Detention;
- National Day Marred by Arrests: Authorities Silent on Fate of Three Detained Young Men ;
- Lê Đình Lượng’s Family Accuses Nam Hà Prison of Concealing Detainee’s Health and Safety.
Trịnh Bá Phương to Face Trial on Sept. 20 for Alleged Violations of Penal Code Article 117
The Vietnamese authorities have scheduled the trial of imprisoned land rights activist Trịnh Bá Phương for Sept. 20, 2025, in Đà Nẵng. He faces new charges under Article 117 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or spreading information, materials or items for the purpose of opposing the state.”
This information came from Đỗ Thu, Trịnh Bá Phương’s wife, who posted on her Facebook account. On Aug. 29, 2025, Thu announced that Phương’s trial would be held on Sept. 8, 2025, in Đà Nẵng. However, the following day, she stated on Facebook that the authorities informed her that the trial date had been changed to Sept. 20, 2025.
Phương is already serving a 10-year prison sentence with five years of probation, which was handed down in December 2021 for online posts he made supporting villagers in Đồng Tâm Commune, when villagers clashed with police over land seizures. Phương’s expected release date had been June 24, 2030, but the new charges could extend his imprisonment.
The additional indictment stems from notes and writings discovered in his prison cell in early 2025, in which he allegedly wrote phrases such as “down with Communism.” The authorities treated these as continued “anti-state propaganda.”
In May, the Ministry of Public Security confirmed he would be prosecuted again under Article 117, marking the first known case of a Vietnamese political prisoner facing fresh charges for statements made while in detention.
Human rights organizations swiftly condemned the move. Human Rights Watch described the charges as draconian and urged Việt Nam to release Phương and other detained activists. Amnesty International had previously documented the imprisonment of his mother, Cấn Thị Thêu, and brother, Trịnh Bá Tư, both serving eight-year sentences on similar charges.
The family’s plight has drawn international concern. In August 2025, Thêu was hospitalized with severe stomach cramps and fatigue but remained behind bars with limited access to medical care and restricted family visits. Advocacy groups argue that Vietnam’s treatment of the Trịnh family exemplifies a broader crackdown on dissent, particularly against land rights activists.
The trial comes as Việt Nam prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of its National Day on Sept. 2, an occasion the government has highlighted as a symbol of independence and sovereignty. Critics say the prosecution underscores the contradiction between the state’s official celebrations and its suppression of peaceful activism.
If convicted again, Trịnh Bá Phương could face a sentence extending well beyond his current 2030 release date. Rights groups warn that the case sets a dangerous precedent for punishing prisoners of conscience not only for past activism but also for expressions of opinion made while inside prison walls.
On Sept. 1, 2025, Thu also informed the public that around 10 p.m. on Aug. 31, local authorities reportedly hired an excavator to pile two mounds of earth at both ends of the path leading to the home of Trịnh Bá Phương’s father in Hòa Bình Province.
The move effectively blocked access to and from the property ahead of Vietnam’s National Day on Sept. 2. The family had previously told security officers that they did not intend to leave the house during the holiday, but security police nonetheless proceeded with what the family described as an unacceptable act of obstruction.
Hồ Sỹ Quyết, a vlogger from Yên Thành District, Nghệ An Province, has reportedly gone missing in Hồ Chí Minh City, his wife stated on social media on Aug. 30, 2025.
According to his wife, Quyết was able to make a brief phone call to her on the early morning of Aug. 29. During the call, he was only able to say one sentence — “I am at the police station” — before the line was cut. He has not been heard from since.
As of now, Quyết’s family has not received any official information about which police station he is being held at, the reasons for his detention, or how long he will be kept in custody.
This incident mirrors a detention in January 2020, documented by human rights monitoring group The 88 Project. That January, Hồ Sỹ Quyết issued a statement denouncing a warrantless raid by plainclothes security officers at his home in Văn Giang, Hưng Yên Province.
According to his account, around 2 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2020, nine men and one woman, claiming to be from the Ministry of Public Security, forcibly entered his residence without permission. They detained him and his wife briefly while confiscating personal belongings—including electronics, identification documents, and books, which were packed in his wife’s luggage.
The recent disappearance, together with the earlier unlawful search and confiscation, has heightened fears of escalating restrictions on civil society and freedom of expression in Việt Nam. Activists and observers are calling on the authorities to provide transparency by disclosing Quyết’s location, clarifying the legal grounds for his detention, and ensuring access to legal representation and medical care.
The cultish secrecy surrounding his detention—both in 2020 and now—reflects a broader pattern of opaque security enforcement. Families and rights groups argue that citizens must not be deprived of fundamental legal protections under the guise of national security.
“Disappeared in Custody”: Answers Are Demanded on Three Young Men Detained in Việt Nam
Vietnamese human rights activists are raising an alarm after three young men — Trần Quang Nam from Hà Nam, Nguyễn Tuấn Nghĩa from Hà Nội, and a man known only as Khánh — were reportedly detained by security forces on Aug. 29 while meeting during the National Day holiday. Their families have not been informed about their whereabouts, the reasons for their arrest, or how long they will be held.
Observers emphasize that all three were engaged in peaceful expression and social activity before they were seized.
Family members have said that they have not received any formal notification from the police, a practice that even violates Việt Nam’s criminal procedure code, which requires the authorities to inform relatives of detentions, and international human rights standards that protect against arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance.
The opacity surrounding the case fits a pattern in Article 117 of the Penal Code where dissidents and ordinary citizens who voice independent views are targeted under vague security pretexts and held incommunicado, effectively cut off from their families and legal protections.
Rights monitors warn that this latest incident, coming just days before the 80th anniversary of Việt Nam’s National Day, starkly contradicts government narratives of human rights and democracy, underscoring instead the shrinking civic space and ongoing criminalization of free expression.
Activists and friends of the detained men are calling for immediate transparency and accountability, demanding that the authorities immediately disclose where Nam, Nghĩa, and Khánh are being held, on what grounds, and for how long. They have also insisted that Việt Nam end the practice of secret detentions that amount to enforced disappearances under international law.
The family of the long-imprisoned activist Lê Đình Lượng has accused Nam Hà Prison in Hà Nam Province of deliberately concealing his health situation and endangering his life, after prison authorities unexpectedly blocked a scheduled visit on Aug. 29, claiming he refused to meet his relatives.
According to a Facebook statement by his son, Lê Đình Hiếu, the family had been on edge since their previous visit, when prison officials disclosed that Lượng had begun a hunger strike. Since then, they have not received any calls or direct communication from him. Concerned for his safety, Lượng’s wife and several relatives traveled to Nam Hà Prison on Aug. 29 to seek clarity.
Instead of transparency, the family said, they could not visit him, and the prison officers told them that because Lượng “did not want to meet his family.” This explanation was immediately rejected by his relatives, who emphasized that in more than eight years of detention, he has never once refused a family visit. On the contrary, they said, visits have been his only vital source of encouragement, especially under the harsh conditions of his imprisonment.
The family believes that the activist is either still being held in solitary confinement or that his health has deteriorated so severely that it may now be life-threatening. They accused Nam Hà Prison of using the implausible excuse of his not wanting to meet his family to hide his actual health condition. “There was no reason whatsoever that he would refuse to see us, especially now,” the family said in a statement.
Calling the prison’s actions a violation of Vietnamese law and international human rights norms, the family demanded that Nam Hà authorities immediately and transparently disclose his health condition and detention status, ensure his right to family visits and communication, and accept full responsibility for any harm to his life and wellbeing.
“We have every reason to believe that Nam Hà Prison is deliberately concealing the state of my father’s health,” Hiếu stated. The family warned that they are prepared to file petitions and complaints with relevant authorities and to publicize the case widely to protect his rights and life.
Rights groups have long criticized Vietnam’s practice of incommunicado detention, warning that the denial of family visits and vague official explanations amount to violations of both domestic law and the international conventions the country has signed. This latest development has heightened concern for prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, particularly those engaged in hunger strikes to protest prison conditions.