September 29, 2025 – Viet Tan strongly denounces the unjust and excessive 11-year prison sentence handed down to activist Trinh Ba Phuong, who is already serving a 10-year term under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code for “propaganda against the state.”
The new sentence was based on allegations that Trinh Ba Phuong wrote two short phrases critical of the Communist Party and the judiciary on the back of an A4-sized magazine. Prison guards themselves admitted that they could not verify with certainty that the handwriting was his. Yet, this flimsy evidence was used to add 11 more years to the prison term of a peaceful activist.
On September 27, 2025, representatives from the embassies of the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union—who had been promised access to the trial in Da Nang—were barred from entering the courtroom. They, along with Trinh Ba Phuong’s wife, Do Thi Thu, and sister, Trinh Thi Thao, were forced to wait outside until they were informed that the trial had concluded. According to Thu and Thao, the trial lasted barely two and a half hours. Defense attorneys were prevented from properly presenting their arguments, and when Trinh Ba Phuong attempted to speak, a policeman physically covered his mouth.
The crackdown on Trinh Ba Phuong is part of a broader pattern of persecution against his family. His mother, Can Thi Theu, and brother, Trinh Ba Tu, are each serving 8-year prison sentences on the same charge of “propaganda against the state”. Altogether, the three family members face a combined 37 years behind bars, each is held in separate prisons.
For years, the family has campaigned against land confiscations in their village. Their farmland—passed down for generations—was seized by local authorities at a rate of 200,000 dong per square meter ($8), only to be resold to private investors for up to 300 million dong per square meter ($12,000). Their resistance to blatant injustice has cost the family their freedom.
Article 117 has long been wielded by communist Vietnam to silence dissent. Adding 11 years to the sentence of a prisoner of conscience for two handwritten phrases illustrates the regime’s brutality and disregard for human rights. This comes just months after Hanoi officials falsely declared at the UN in Geneva that there are “no prisoners of conscience” in Vietnam.
Under the leadership of General To Lam, the former Minister of Public Security and current Party General Secretary, Vietnam is experiencing the worst wave of repression since the country opened up for trade and investment in the 1990s.
Viet Tan calls on democratic governments to impose meaningful sanctions on the Vietnamese regime for its systematic human rights abuses.
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