Vietnam police open criminal probe of second Germany-based activist

 

 

The Straits Times | 2025-11-19

Vietnam police issued an arrest warrant for a well-known lawyer and activist based in Germany for alleged anti-state activities, the second government critic in that country to be targeted this week on the same charges. 

Mr Nguyen Van Dai is accused of “producing, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents or materials aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, according to a statement on the Public Security Ministry’s website. He is a Vietnamese citizen, police said.

“Every time you accuse me from afar like this, tens of thousands of curious Vietnamese people” search for his name, Mr Dai said in a message to police posted on social media. “You are doing free media for me more effectively than international agencies.”

The 56-year-old said he has been a political refugee since 2018 and protected by the German government under the 1951 Geneva Convention.

The German Embassy in Hanoi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The same charges were levelled earlier this week against Berlin-based journalist Le Trung Khoa, the editor of Thoibao.de, a Vietnamese-language news site for the diaspora. Police on Nov 17 launched a criminal investigation into Mr Khoa, who in turn criticised Vietnam’s lack of freedom of expression and of the press.

Mr Dai was previously sentenced to 15 years in jail and five years of house arrest in Vietnam after being convicted in April 2018 of trying to overthrow the government. He was released later that year and flew to Germany with his wife and with his colleague Le Thu Ha, who had been sentenced to nine years in prison.

Mr Dai and Ms Ha were both members of the Brotherhood for Democracy, which was formed in 2013 to provide human rights training and legal assistance to Vietnamese citizens.

Vietnam’s government has “intensified its crackdown on dissent to punish people simply for raising concerns or complaints about government policies or local officials”, Human Rights Watch said in an April 21 report.

There are more than 160 political and religious prisoners in Vietnam, including bloggers and labour union and democracy advocates, the rights agency said earlier in November. BLOOMBERG

 

 

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