Le Anh Hung

Le Anh Hung was arrested on July 5, 2018, in Hanoi and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the 2015 Criminal Code for posting a letter critical of the government and its proposed law on special economic zones.  

On Oct. 11, 2018, lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng was able to meet Hung in prison. Mieng said that Hung was in good health and spirits. On Sept. 12, Hung’s mother, Mrs. Tran Thi Niem was also able to see him. Hung said he had not cooperated with security officials and that his detention order was extended for two more months while police continued their investigation.

On Dec. 6, Mrs. Tran Thi Niem, Hung’s mother, went to Detention Center No. 2, Thuong Tin District, Hanoi and reported that Hung's case was sent to the Procuracy. After September meeting, she was not allowed to meet with Hung for several months. 

For an attempted Jan. 2019, police forced Hung to wear a prisoner outfit and handcuffs for the visit. Hung protested this requirement, and as a a result, the prison authorities banned him from meeting with his visitors. At the time, Hung was still under pre-trial investigation. Due to this, he told his family that he refused to be treated as a prisoner without being convicted.

In April 2019, Mrs. Niem reported that the investigation agency had transferred Hung to the Central Mental Hospital (the article in Vietnamese, here) in Thuong Tin District, Hanoi, on April 1, 2019. On the morning of April 4, Niem, Hung's brother, and a friend went to visit Hung but were denied access. The investigation agency said that they were checking on Hung's health and waiting for the result. On April 24, prison authorities transferred Hung back to prison after the evaluation at the hospital. 

However, just weeks later, Hung was again sent to Central Mental Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi. While he was on hunger strike at the facility, he alleged that the hospital force fed him via a naso-gastric tube so violently that his nose and mouth bled. Besides intervening in his hunger strike, he alleged that the hospital also forcibly injected him with medication. 

That same month, 25 of the US Congress sent a letter to the US Secretary of State urging the US to press for better protections for freedom of expression in Vietnam, citing Vietnam's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, highlighting the cases of imprisoned journalists Nguyen Van Hoa and Le Anh Hung and blogger Truong Duy Nhat.

Following his ordeal at the Central Mental Hospital, in June 2019, Hung's mother sent an application to the authorities asking to release Hung to be able to care for him at the family's home. Yet, he continued to be held at the hospital. And on Dec. 5, 2019, Mrs. Niem visited Hung and shared that the doctor kept increasing Hung’s anti-psychotic medication, which had made him very sick. He reportedly started developing hallucinations and insomnia. 

The nightmare continue for Hung, who contacted Mrs. Niem by phone in March 2020 and informed her that the authorities again increased his anti-psychotic medication. 

In July 2020, while still being held at Central Mental Hospital No. 1, fellow blogger Nguyen Vu Binh, reported of Hung that “a nurse named An used a metal folding chair to beat him [Hung] and then fastened him to his bed, injecting him with sedatives that left him unconscious.”

News from Hung remained sparse and disturbing throughout his time at the hospital. In Feb. 2021, he was denied New Year visits from his supporters and he reported to his mother that he was severely beaten and tortured by hospital’s officials. In a March 2021 phone call home, Hung also told her that the hospital had yet again increased his medication dosage, and if he refused to take it, they would inject him. 

A year later, in March 2022, private sources visited Mrs. Niem and reported to Project88 that Hung was still being held at the Central Mental Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi. Hung was reported to be healthy and no longer forced to take medication against his well, as well as permitted more regular phone calls home. 

Finally, in May 2022, after being held at Central Mental Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi for three years, Hung was returned to prison so that the criminal prosecution against him could resume.  Nguyen Van Mieng reported that he spoke by phone with Hung May 17 and said that Hung had not asked for a reduction in his sentence; however, he did ask the court to apply the time he spent in the pyschiatric hospital toward his pre-trial detention period. 

After more than four years in pre-trial detention, on Aug. 30, 2022, Hung was tried in a secret trial, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison for "abusing democratic freedoms" without the knowledge of either his lawyers or his family. It wasn’t until his mother, Tran Thi Niem, called the investigators in early September that she learned of the trial. According to the investigators Niem spoke with, the three years Hung spent in psychiatric confinement would count toward his prison time. 

The month after his trial, Hung filed an appeal of his five-year sentence. Prison officials told Hung’s mother that she could not visit her son while the appeal is in process. The law, however, specifies that those held in temporary custody can meet with their relatives once a month.

In Jan. 2023, Le Anh Hung was transferred to Ba Sao Prison, Nam Ha province, according to his mother, Niem. She was able to visit Hung and reported that he had lost some weight but was in generally good health. Hung also reportedly told his mother he may be released from prison soon. 

Le Anh Hung was released from prison in July 2023.

After his release, Hung reported directly to Project88 that, in 2020, he was violently assaulted while being detained against his will at the Central Mental Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi. The incident allegedly occurred a few days after he snuck out photos of himself being tied down in a hospital bed, as well as of multiple bruises allegedly caused by an earlier assault perpetrated by a male nurse named Trần Quốc An. According to Hung, on July 19, 2020, An bought beer for two patients in the hospital and let them attack Hung. One held him tight while the other repeatedly punched him in the head and face, causing lacerations that left scars. Hung told us that during prior weeks, he had suddenly lost his hearing in the left ear, the cause of which was not clear after being examined and treated at the Eye, Ear, Throat Central Hospital over the course of 10 days. Hung was seeking assistance in diagnosing the problem to see if it could be a consequence of the head injury he suffered at the psychiatric hospital. 

Later, in Aug. 2024, Le Anh Hung told Project88 that he had finally received a response from the court regarding his request for a review of his criminal conviction. A clerk of the court told Hung that his filing had been received and was  being processed. Hung’s case involved his accusing Hoang Trung Hai, a member of the Hanoi People’s Committee, of espionage under Article 110 of the Criminal Code, and Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong (now deceased) of high treason in accordance with Article 108.

Resources

Blogger Lê Anh Hùng, bị bắt vì tố cáo lãnh đạo cấp cao, Cali Today, July 6, 2018

Journalist faces jail for criticising government policy, Vietnam Right Now, July 6, 2018

Viet Nam: Blogger arrested for criticizing government must be freed, Amensty International, July 5, 2018

Independent journalist detained on anti-state charges in Vietnam, The Committee to Protect Journalists, July 9, 2018

Blogger Held, Put in Mental Ward, Radio Free Asia, January 26, 2013

Vietnamese Blogger Awaiting Trial Moved from Prison to Mental Institution, Radio Free Asia, April, 4, 2019

Vietnamese Blogger Taken Back to Prison After Stay in Mental Hospital, Radio Free Asia, April 26, 2019

Jailed Vietnam Blogger is Returned to Mental Hospital, Forcibly Medicated, Radio Free Asia, May 10, 2019

US Lawmakers Urge Greater Push For Vietnam Press Freedoms, Radio Free Asia, May 29, 2019

Interview with Le Anh Hung's mother, The 88 Project, February 7, 2020

Detained Vietnamese Blogger Beaten, Forcibly Injected, Radio Free Asia, July 16, 2020

Jailed Vietnamese Blogger Held in Isolation, Denied Visits in Mental Hospital, Radio Free Asia, February 18, 2021

Blogger Lê Anh Hùng bị ép uống thuốc tâm thần nặng đô hơn, Nguoi Viet, April 4, 2021

Jailed Vietnamese RFA Blogger in Poor Health, Slowed by Injured Hand, Radio Free Asia, April 6, 2021

Nguyen Van Mieng Facebook update, May 12, 2022

Vietnamese blogger sent back to jail after three years in mental hospital, Radio Free Asia, May 17, 2022

Vietnamese blogger sentenced to 5 years after trial without defense lawyer, RFA Vietamese, September 8, 2022

Vietnamese dissident appeals five-year sentence, RFA, September 20, 2022