She had been detained for a year. The prominent Vietnamese climate and human rights activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong was released on Friday, September 20, her husband announced Saturday to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The publication comes just hours before the visit of the President and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam, to the United States, in particular to attend the 79th International Conference on Human Rights.my session of the United Nations General Assembly. In the process, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, another prominent human rights activist, was also released, according to his friend and lawyer, Le Cong Dinh.
In September 2023, the activist was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion. The Ho Chi Minh City court found her guilty of failing to pay $275,000 in taxes related to the activity of the NGO Change that she founded. Four other environmental activists were jailed in 2023 for tax evasion.
“She was released yesterday, it was unexpected”her husband, Hoang Vinh Nam, told AFP. “He’s great, he’s fine, he’s in good health”He said he was pleased, adding that the 52-year-old activist had until then been detained in Gia Lai, a mountainous region in the Vietnamese highlands.
Resistance is not tolerated
Hoang Thi Minh Hong created Change to inspire Vietnamese people, particularly young people, to take action on pressing environmental issues, including climate change, illegal wildlife trade and pollution. However, the communist government shows little interest in environmental issues, the party tolerates no resistance and regularly sends its opponents to prison.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, meanwhile, was serving a 16-year sentence for attempting to overthrow the regime. He was convicted in 2010. He was released on Friday from a prison in Nghe An province in central Vietnam, from where he boarded a plane to Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s second-largest city. From there, he was placed in a government building and was able to call his sister, according to his lawyer Le Cong Dinh. “He was emaciated, his hair is white, but his spirit remains strong” said m.my Le Cong Dinh, himself released from prison in 2013.
In the United States, To Lam will preside over an event to mark the 30th anniversary of themy anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the first year of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Hanoi and Washington, according to state media.
