A loyal member of the Communist Party, and a respected team leader at the Quang Ninh Police Criminal Division, Ngo Doan Tha could have been Ho Chi Minh's pin-up boy.
Instead, his opinions of the party he had grown up with changed dramatically as he watched Vietnam struggle through the 1980s.
Mr Tha took an interest in re-education policy after receiving complaints from Quang Ninh residents that they had been sent for re-education without trial.
In 1988, he went to a meeting led by the Public Security Bureau head. It heard the views of discussion groups on re-education policy.
Mr Tha says his comments representing his group's feelings led to the arrest of all four of its members.
On his arrest, Mr Tha was stripped of his gun, police identification, party membership and graduation card.