Birth date: June 1, 1962
Activity: Evangelist in the Mennonite Church, land rights activist
Date of arrest: July 19, 2010
Sentence: Sentenced to 7 years imprisonment followed by 5 years house arrest on May 30, 2011
Charge: Attempting to overthrow the government (Article 79)
Current location: Ben Tre Detention Center, Ben Tre Province
Pham Van Thong is a long-time land rights activist and evangelist in the Mennonite Church. He was arrested for anti-state propaganda for helping to distribute slogans affirming Vietnamese sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. These charges were changed to subversion at his trial. In 2011, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the Hanoi government’s detention and conviction of Pham Van Thong and 6 other activists is in violation of international law.
