Notable events:

• Prisoner of Conscience Huynh Thuc Vy Released in Early June
• Hanoi and Beijing to Strengthen Cooperation in Propaganda Effort
• A YouTube User Fined for ‘False Report’ on Thich Minh Tue’s Sensational Pilgrimage
• Journalist Truong Huy San, Author of Renowned Postwar Book, Reportedly Detained

Prisoner of Conscience Huynh Thuc Vy Released in Early June

Huynh Thuc Vy, a human rights activist and dissident blogger who served 33 months imprisonment for the alleged crime of “insulting the national flag,” was released on June 1, she said in an interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA) on June 4. Her release came three months before she was to be released in September.

Before she was arrested, Vy, 39, who lived in Buon Ho District, Dak Lak Province, had actively advocated and written about human rights, political pluralism, and democracy. In 2018, a court in Buon Ho District sentenced her after she allegedly sprayed paint on the national flag and posted a photo of the defaced flag on social media.