More than a month after the family of Nguyen Van Chuong, a Vietnamese wrongful death-row prisoner, received a court notice informing them about their son’s impending execution, state-owned media remains eerily silent about the incident.

The Vietnamese authorities’ decision to execute Chuong, a native of Hai Duong Province, has stoked widespread opposition from the public in Vietnam and among the international community. It has rekindled robust online discussions about the deep-rooted problems with Vietnam’s criminal justice system and the hideous use of torture by the police to extract forced confessions. A petition [1] pleading with President Vo Van Thuong to halt Chuong’s execution and re-investigate the case has gained more than 5,800 signatures as of Aug. 21.