Vu Quang Thuan, a former political prisoner who was recently released from jail, told Radio Free Asia that police have taken the unusual step of installing surveillance cameras in his home without his consent.
A key member of the pro-democracy Vietnam Restoration Movement, Thuan was arrested in March 2017 on charges of “conducting propaganda against the state. In early 2018, he was later sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of probation.
On Feb. 22, 2025, he was released, eight days earlier than scheduled.
After his release, Thuan said he had been hospitalized for treatment of serious health problems. During that time, local police came to install two surveillance cameras in the home where he lives with his 95-year-old father and 80-year-old stepmother.
One camera is in the entrance by the door, and the other one is in the living room, he said, providing photos to RFA Vietnamese. They have been operating for about a week, he said.
RFA has not been able to verify Thuan’s allegations with local authorities.
“While I was in a coma and unconscious at Thai Binh Provincial Hospital, they forced my parents to let them install cameras,” Thuan said. “My father was paralyzed and could not move, and my stepmother objected, but they still ignored it.”
“I feel very indignant about this issue,” he said. “No law allows such human rights violations.”
Under the probation order, Thuan cannot leave the Thai Thuy district in Thai Binh province without permission.
He also said that the installation of surveillance cameras was an escalation by local police in invading his privacy, as the police had previously searched his home without a warrant.
“About 10 days after I was released from prison, the Commune Police Chief called me out to talk, but when I arrived at the station, I was detained by nearly 10 police officers, and then they sent people to search my house without a warrant,” Thuan said.
Faced with the actions of the police and local authorities, Thuan said he felt like he was dealing with “gangsters” rather than law enforcement agencies.
Former political prisoners are usually placed under house arrest by local authorities after their release, and are required to report to police headquarters once a month.
Edited by Malcolm Foster.