Trần Đức Thạch

Trần Đức Thạch (born June 19, 1952) is a Vietnamese author, human rights activist and prisoner of conscience. Thach was a veteran of the Vietnam War and a former member of the People's Army of Vietnam. Thach is known for his poems, articles and reports that condemn corruption, injustice and human rights violations in Vietnam. Currently imprisoned, he is expected to be released in 2032.

Activism
Thach is known for writing about the war crimes committed by the People's Army of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Thach was a witness to these war crimes, especially the Tan Lap massacre in Dong Nai province in April 1975. He has written a novel, poems, articles and reports that condemn corruption, injustice and human rights abuses.

Since 1975, Thach has been repeatedly harassed by the Vietnamese authorities. His first arrest and conviction was in September 2008, where Thach had served a three-year jail term for "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" under Article 88 of the Penal Code.

After his first prison term, Thach continued his campaigning against the Vietnamese authorities.

Thach co-founded the pro-democracy group the Brotherhood for Democracy with lawyer and former political prisoner Nguyen Van Dai in 2013. The group mainly campaigns for human rights on social media, but has been suppressed by the Vietnamese government. His second arrest was in April 2020 at his home for "activities aimed at overthrowing the government".

2020 arrest and sentence
On April 23, 2020, Thach was arrested by about 20 plainclothes police officers at his home in Nghe An province. Thach was charged with subversion under Article 109 of the 2015 Criminal Code.

During his arrest, Thach was not allowed to meet with his family and lawyer. Only three months after his arrest, his wife Chuong Nguyen was allowed to see her husband on July 9.

His family has been rejected to visit Thach and are not informed on his state of condition. In June 2021, Thach was transferred from Nghi Kim Detention Center in Nghe A province to Prison Camp 5 in Thanh Hóa province. His family was not notified about this transfer.

His expected release is on April 23, 2032.

International response
In September 2020, Human Rights Watch urged the Vietnamese authorities to drop the charges and immediately release Thach.

In December 2020, PEN America called for the immediate release of Thach and in April 2021, they released a statement in support of Thach on the first anniversary of his arrest.

In August 2021, the wife of Thach, Chuong Nguyen and three other wives of political prisoners in Vietnam wrote an open letter to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. In this letter, they requested Kamala, who was meeting the officials during her trip to Vietnam, to pressure the Vietnamese government to release their husbands. This open letter was co-signed by 60 Viet-American pro-democracy, religious, media and community organizations.

In November 2022, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations deemed the detention and arrest of Thach to have been arbitrary.