Dinh Dang Dinh
The Death of Blogger & Environmental Activist Dinh Dang Dinh, 50
On April 3, 2014, dissident and prisoner of conscience Dinh Dang Dinh died at his home in Dak Nong province. The former blogger and school teacher, who was terminally ill with stomach cancer, had served more than two years of a six year sentence when he was released from An Phuoc Prison on medical parole on February 15, 2014. His family has been critical of prison authorities, who they say waited until it was too late before authorizing proper medical treatment for Dinh after he became severely ill. His death comes less than two weeks after he was notified on March 21 that he had been granted permanent release from prison in a presidential amnesty. Dinh was arrested in 2011 in Dak Nong province after he initiated a petition against a Chinese bauxite mining project in the Central Highlands and called for multi-party pluralism and human rights in Vietnam. He was sentenced to six years in prison under penal code article 88, conducting anti-government propaganda. Even though critically ill, after his release from prison on medical parole in February 2014 he remained outspoken, serving as one of the founding members of the association of Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience. |
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