Profile: Le Anh Hung – The 88 Project

January 2023:

Le Anh Hung was transferred to Ba Sao Prison, Nam Ha province, according to his mother, Tran Thi Niem. She and a few others were able to visit Hung and reported that he had lost some weight but was in generally good health.

Hung has also reportedly told his mother he may be released from prison soon. Hung was arrested in July 2018 but was not put on trial until August 2022, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for “abusing democratic freedoms.” During much of his pre-trial detention period, Hung was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric institution; it is not clear if those months will count toward time served under Vietnamese law.

September 2022:

Le Anh Hung has launched an appeal of his five-year sentence for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Prison officials have told Hung’s mother that she can not visit her son while the appeal is in process. The law, however, specifies that “Those held in temporary custody can meet their relatives once a month.”

August 2022:

Journalist Le Anh Hung was tried in secret on August 30 and sentenced to five years in prison 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. For reasons that aren’t clear, he has spent the last three years, from April 2019 to May 2022, in a psychiatric hospital, which, according to the investigators his mother talked to, will count toward his prison time. During his unusually long pre-trial detention period, Hung often alleged physical and psychological abuse and has had to go on several hunger strikes in protest.

May 2022:

Le Anh Hung was moved from the National Psychiatric Ward in Hanoi, where he was admitted in April 2019, and returned to prison so that the criminal prosecution against him could resume. A member of the Independent Journalist Association of Vietnam, Hung was arrested in July 2018 and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms.” However, he has yet to be tried. During his unusually long pre-trial detention period, now entering its fourth year, Hung has often complained of physical and psychological abuse and has had to go on several hunger strikes to protest the abuse.

Attorney Nguyen Van Mieng posted on his Facebook page a brief report on three political prisoners whom he talked to by phone on May 17:

Le Anh Hung looks thinner but is mentally sharp. He did not ask the court for a reduction in his sentence; however, he did ask it to apply the time he spent in the mental ward toward his pretrial detention since he never had a day of freedom since he was arrested. He also demanded that the court release him at trial.

Mieng said he could only speak to each person for about 15 minutes even though the law says he can have “unlimited time” with his clients.

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Le Anh Hung has often been subjected to psychological abuse in Vietnamese prison. We interviewed Ms. Tran Thi Niem, Hung’s mother, about his current condition. Watch the full interview here.