On 27 June 2024, the Dak Lak People’s Court in Vietnam sentenced six farm workers and land rights defenders to between five and seven years in prison on charges of “destroying assets,” amid a longstanding dispute between an indigenous Ede village and a coffee company. Cong Ly, Y Luh Nie and Y Coh Nie were each sentenced to seven years in prison; Y Luong Hlong, Y Nguot Hdok, and Y Hoan Bya, to six years in prison; and Y Rosi Nie to five years.

The six men were found guilty of cutting down and destroying coffee trees belonging to a local company, Ea Pok coffee which has for decades held the rights to cultivate land residents say was once theirs.