Nguyen Tien Trung

Nguyen Tien Trung is a Vietnamese blogger and activist who was arrested in July 2009 on charges of disseminating "propaganda against the socialist state" and "organization to attempt to overthrow the people's government". After a show trial in January 2010, that lasted just one day, he was sentenced to seven years in jail and 3 years’ probation, and is currently in prison in Ho Chi Minh City. Trung has a Masters in I.T from France’s Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Rennes, and during his time there, wrote an open letter to Vietnam’s Education Minister, demanding reforms to the country’s highly politicized education system. In May 2006, he founded Viet Youth for Democracy, which called on world leaders to remind the Vietnamese government of its commitment to human rights. Trung is also Vice General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Vietnam, a peaceful group not recognized by the one party regime.

Advocate: Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) 

Nguyen Tien Trung has been RELEASED.