Tran Huyn Duy Thuc (Tran Dong Chan), Freelance
Medium:Internet
Charge:Anti-State
Imprisoned:May 24, 2009

Thuc, a blogger who wrote under the pen name Tran Dong Chan (Change We Need), was first arrested on charges of "promoting anti-Socialist, anti-government propaganda," according to news reports. On January 20, 2010, he was sentenced by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City to 16 years in prison and five years' house arrest for "activities aimed at overthrowing the government" under Article 79 of the penal code.

The court's indictment charged him with disseminating false information over a website and three different blogs, according to news reports. He was convicted in part for writing, along with two political activists, a book called The Vietnam Path which the court ruled was part of a plan to create unsanctioned political parties and overthrow the government, according to news reports. Thuc maintained his innocence at the trial.

Thuc was added to CPJ's prison census in 2013 after new information led CPJ to conclude that he was jailed for his journalistic work.

His personal blog, Tran Dong Chan, focused on local issues of inequality, social ills, and risks of a possible socioeconomic crisis. He also wrote about sensitive foreign affairs-related topics, including a March 2009 article called "Obama, China, and Vietnam," which analyzed the three countries' divergent approaches to civil liberties, human rights, and economic development.

On May 11, 2012, an appellate court upheld Thuc's sentence in a closed trial, according to news reports. He was being held at southern Dong Nai province's Xuan Loc Z30A prison, according to the Vietnam Human Rights Network, an exile-run group.

Thuc was held in solitary confinement from August 2012 to March 2013, and denied access to books, newspapers, and writing materials, according to a Radio Free Asia report citing his father. He was transferred to Ba Ria-Vung Tau province's Xuyen Moc prison after a riot among prisoners at Xuan Loc in August 2013. He was still being held there in late 2014.

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