Key Events

• Prisoners of Conscience in An Diem Prison Start Hunger Strikes
• Vietnam Deports a Belarusian Military Volunteer in Ukraine Back Home
• Binh Duong Police Arrest Former Socialist Theory Teacher for ‘Abusing Democratic Freedoms’

Prisoners of Conscience in An Diem Prison Start Hunger Strikes to Protest Confiscation of Personal Items

Four prisoners of conscience held at An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province have initiated hunger strikes for weeks to protest the correctional authorities’ confiscation of their books, pens, and writing paper. They include Trinh Ba Phuong, Hoang Duc Binh, Phan Cong Hai, and Nguyen Thai Binh.

Hai informed his family about the strikes when he completed his sentence and was released on Nov. 19, saying that the fasting began on the first day of November. He added that his fellow inmate, Hoang Duc Binh, developed acute health complications, including hematuria and stomachache, on the sixth day because he had kidney stones. Meanwhile, Hai and Binh ceased their strikes on the fifteenth day of November due to their weakened health conditions.