View source for Hoàng Minh Chính

{{Short description|Vietnamese politician (1922–2008)}}
'''Hoàng Minh Chính'''<ref name="Australian">{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23188001-12377,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212193052/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23188001-12377,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2008|title=Democracy activist Hoang Minh Chinh dies|work=[[The Australian]]|date=2008-02-09}}</ref> (November 16, 1922&nbsp;– February 7, 2008), also '''Trần Ngọc Nghiêm''', was a [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] [[politician]] and [[dissident]]. He was one of the best-known figures and ideologists of the [[Vietnamese Communist Party]] during the 1960s and held several key governmental positions. In the late 1960s, he criticized decisions made by his own party and was sent to jail three times.

==Early life==
Hoang was born in 1922 in the province of [[Nam Dinh]] and joined the communist revolution in 1937.<ref name="Kerala">{{cite news|url=http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=20354|title=Leading Vietnamese dissident Hoang Minh Chinh dies|work=NewKerala.com|date=2008-02-08}}</ref> He was later trained in politics in the [[Soviet Union]] during the late 1950s.

==Political career==
From 1960 to 1967, he was named during his political tenure in various key positions inside the government including vice-minister of education and director of the [[Marxist Institute of Philosophy]].<ref name="Kerala" />

He was opposed to any military action against the southern half of Vietnam during the [[Vietnam War]] and called for more democratic procedures within the ranks of the party. He would later become a member and the secretary general of the [[Democratic Party of Vietnam]] until it was dissolved in 1986 (together with Socialist Party, the other legal 'non-communist' party in Vietnam).

In 1967, Hoang wrote a 200-page document criticizing the policies made by the Communist Party and was jailed twice for a total of eleven years and was under house arrest until 1990. However, he criticized once more of his party and he was jailed for a third time in 1995 and remained under house arrest until his death.<ref name="Federation">{{cite web|url=http://www.hdvnbtdt.org/article.php3?id_article=94|title=Hoang Minh Chinh|publisher=Vietnamese Federation for Faherland's Integrity|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512070411/http://www.hdvnbtdt.org/article.php3?id_article=94|archivedate=2008-05-12}}</ref> Despite constant government surveillance and his house arrest, he would continue to be involved in pro-democracy movements during the late 1990s.

In June 2006, he reactivated the [[Democratic Party of Vietnam]].

==Later life==
In 2005, he began to experience health problems. In a surprise move from the government, he was allowed to go to the [[United States]] to receive treatment for pancreatic cancer and was able to return to Vietnam despite opposition from the media after he made a speech in Congressional Committee at the [[United States House of Representatives]] on the situation in [[Vietnam]] and his criticism of the country repression on pro-democracy activists and its human rights record.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7234214.stm|title=Famous Vietnamese dissident dies|work=[[bbc.co.uk]]|publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=2008-02-08|first=Nga|last=Pham}}</ref> After his return to Vietnam, there were reports that groups of plain-clothed police attacked him at his home. Briefly he returned as a member of the DPV.<ref name="RFA">{{cite news|url=http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2005/12/06/vietnam_dissident/|title=Mob Attacks Home of Vietnamese Dissident, Family|work=[[Radio Free Asia]]|date=2005-12-06}}</ref>

==Death==
He died at his home in [[Hanoi]] on February 7, 2008, aged 85, on the first day of the Tet [[Tết|Lunar New Year]].<ref name="Kerala" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoang, Minh Chinh}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Nam Định]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Vietnam politicians]]
[[Category:Democratic Party of Vietnam politicians]]
[[Category:Vietnamese dissidents]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Vietnam]]