Vu Hung is a pro democracy activist and former prisoner of conscience who actively participated in the peaceful demonstrations against the deadly Formosa steel plant toxic waste spill in April 2016. In 2008, he was arrested for calling for a multi-party democracy and was convicted with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code, a charge which is often used to imprison HRDs in Vietnam He is a member of Brotherhood for Democracy, an independent civil society organisation which uses the Internet to promote human rights and coordinate the efforts of various pro-democracy actors in the country, which has been increasingly targeted by Vietnamese authorities.
Vietnamese authorities treat human rights defenders as “enemies of the State”. HRDs are subjected to intimidation, threats, interrogation, harassment, arrest and routine beatings. Many defenders are victims of arbitrary detention and criminalisation. Most often, they are not informed of the reasons for their arrest or why their request for bail is denied. When put on trial, they are very often sentenced to heavy jail terms and mistreated in prison.
