Thuc was arrested in 2009 and sentenced in a flawed trial to 16 years in connection with a book advocating for governance reforms. He has been subject to inhumane conditions in prison, and has endured multiple hunger strikes in protest of his lengthy prison sentence. In September 2024, after 15 years, he was released from prison eight months before his scheduled release but refused to accept a presidential pardon, saying he had committed no crime and did not want to be a “political pawn.” He was then forcibly placed on a flight to Saigon and released.