On 21 May 2022, land activist Truong Van Dung was arrested and charged with “propaganda against the government”. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison on 28 March 2023. Dung was accused of giving interviews to foreign media, specifically U.S.-based Saigon Dallas Radio, and storing illegally printed books.

Dung has participated in protests in Hanoi against the Taiwan-owned Formosa Company for polluting the coastline of Vietnam in 2016. Dung has experienced years of government harassment and intimidation due to his activism, including police interrogations, house arrest, a travel ban, and physical assaults.

Before the trial, Human Rights Watch called on Vietnam to drop all charges against Dung. The organization’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said in a statement on Monday that Dung was “the latest in a long line of human rights defenders silenced by the Vietnamese government for protesting against human rights violations and advocating for reforms.”